The Two Js
by IBN96
Summary: The Two Js is a story about two young men named Joe and Jamal. They go through many adventures together with their friends. Adventures like fighting crime, solving problems and lots more.
1. The Two Js

It was a beautiful morning in what is called Homes, a neighborhood in Creamland. The sun rose an hour ago, and the sky looked clear. No signs of clouds, but there were still morning mists along the road. Visibility was average.

There were cars parked outside the line of houses. Some of the cars had the mirrors covered with smoke, possibly due to condensation, after the rain the day before.

Joe woke up at 7.00 AM. After he woke up, he was surprised. He rarely wakes up early, but this time, he did. He prepared his breakfast and ate quietly. His neighbour, and good friend, Jamal was seen holding his hands up high, probably to recite a prayer.

When Jamal got out of his family home, he saw Joe talking with someone on the phone.

"Right, I will see you soon," Joe said at the end of the conversation. He then saw Jamal, and waved.

"Hi there!" he said to his young friend.

"Hi!" Jamal replied.

"I was talking to Eddie the policeman."

"Oh, it was Eddie. How is he?"

"Getting rich."

"Oh, I see. He might be busy."

"Yes, he is. He caught a street thug after chasing for many minutes."

"Good to know."

Joe and Jamal walked through the streets. They went past Big Mac's house, and Eddie's. Eddie was not around. Big Mac was not seen, but he usually stayed indoors, taking care of his brother Alibaba.

Then, while walking, they came across an incident. They saw a man getting beaten up. They recognized the beaten man. It was Poulson the laundry man.

The two Js( Joe and Jamal ) found a place to hide, and hid there to avoid being seen by the two suited men who beat Poulson up. They found a nice spot behind a small wall.

"Listen up! Tell us where the weapons are, or you will be finished!" said one of the suited thugs.

Poulson replied, "I do not know anything. Please release me."

Poulson honestly did not know anything about any weaponry. All of a sudden, a masked figure appeared to confront the suited thugs.

"Hold it right there!" exclaimed the masked man.

"Who is there?" asked one of the thugs.

"I am the masked man! Please surrender and release your hostage."

"Yo! This is our man. You cannot take him."

"Yo! I can save him from you."

"Then, try to stop us!"

The two Js watched in awe. The masked man took a dustbin cover and threw it towards one of the thugs. In turn, the thug fell. The remaining thug looked on.

"Want some more?" said the masked man. The thug did not reply but took out a water pistol. He tried to hit the masked man but missed. Then, he threw the pistol and it hit the man's head. The impact left the masked man feeling a bit dizzy.

Then, the police appeared. "Freeze!" said a policeman. "You with the mask, and you, suit man!" .

"Oops…," the thug said.

Jamal thought of running away from the scene. However, before he got up, he heard a voice saying, "Not so fast." It was Big Man, Eddie's big-sized friend.

"Big Man!" Jamal exclaimed.

"What are you two doing here," Big Man asked Joe and Jamal.

Joe said that they were investigating. Big Man found it hard to believe, even though it was true. Jamal confirmed that it was true, and they were not involved with the suited man.

Jamal tried to explain the story. "The masked man was trying to save Poulson the laundry man. He is innocent."

"So you both are not involved?" Big Man wanted to confirm for the last time.

"No!" the two Js said.

Suddenly, a medium-height and small man appeared. He said, "Pardon me for my client, gentlemen." It was Eddie.

"It is okay, officer," Joe said.

"Please, call me Eddie. Just Eddie. I am a top policeman."

"A detective?" Jamal asked.

"No," he replied, "but I assist them if they need assistance."

"Great!" exclaimed Jamal.

The police took care of the thugs. After that, Eddie and the two Js talked.

"I think I am going to need your help," said Eddie.

The two Js, especially Jamal, raised their eyes.

"How may we be of help?" Joe asked.

"We stay put," Eddie said. "We act when necessary."

The discussion ended. Joe accompanied Jamal back home. Jamal felt a little unsure about helping the police. He was surprised when Joe agreed to help.

"Joe, I am surprised. Do you know how to do this?"

"I am a detective in training. I know how to do this."

"You are not a detective."

"But I like to be a detective. You see, we passed the first round. Eddie gave us the second round. If we get through, we are real detectives."

"This is not a game."

"Jamal, please. I want to help by being of good use to people. Helping the police is a way for me to do so. One more thing, if you are not interested, you can forget about it."

"Err…" Jamal froze for a while. He thought about it. He had not much to do in his spare time. So, he decided to help the police. "I will go with you," he said.

"Made up your mind?"

"Yes."

The Creamland city is a modern suburb. Tall skyscrapers owned by vast corporations stood high near the town centre. Unfortunately, things were not always plain sailing. Mr. Dominic was upset about the incident where his thugs got arrested.

"The dam burst again," he said to his friend, Raul.

"West got caught. East, too," said Raul, who was referring to Dominic's men.

"North and South?" Equator?" Dominic asked regarding his other men.

"North and South are unavailable. Equator is on a vacation in Mauritius."

"Mauritius? No!"

"Yes."

"Aaaarrghh!"

"Relax."

Dominic was upset because it looked like no one in his team were going to capitalize on the new high-tech weaponry that they found out about.

All of a sudden, a voice appeared, saying, "Way to go, Dominic." It is Espionage. The man was once a worker for Dominic, but he had other plans, and quit his job. An intelligent scientist, he is also a skilled combatant. He learned it through training.

Dominic got frightened. Raul told his friend to keep calm.

"What do you want, Espionage?" Dominic asked.

"Oh, nothing much. About the tools…" Espionage said.

"What tools?" Dominic asked again.

"The high-tech weaponry you talked about. They are hidden somewhere."

"Yes, they are. What are they to you?"

"The weaponry are what I need to continue my research."

Dominic replied, "I am closer than you are in getting those tools."

Espionage just said, "Not really. Your men got defeated."

"A setback. But I will win."

"We will win," Raul added.

"Right. We will win."

Espionage believed he was wasting his time. So, after saying goodbye, he left the building in a flash. He used his glider to get through the skyscrapers. Raul is impressed with the former employee, but Dominic is not. It later turned out that they would find the weaponry themselves, with their remaining men.

Somewhere in Creamland, in the areas near Homes neighborhood, the masked man got up to the rooftop of a bakery. He put on a pair of gloves. He was about to jump off to somewhere else when Joe showed up.

Joe brought Poulson along. Poulson thanked the masked man for saving his life. The masked man just stood silent, but puzzled.

"…?"

"He does not talk much, does he?" Joe said.

Masked man gave a reply after that. "I do not. I got things to take care of. Some weaponry are scattered and needs to be disposed of." Joe nodded in confusion. He did not really understand. Later, Joe received a call from Eddie. Eddie told him to get everyone together.

Dominic was in his limousine with Raul driving. He wanted to observe the weaponry. Raul saw the GPS radar beeping. It appeared that Espionage was sitting on the rooftop of a building. Thus, they did not need to worry about the former employee.

Unfortunately, some people got to the destination first. Black Raccoon and its gang of raccoons surrounded the area's front entrance.

"I do not believe this," said Dominic.

"Me neither," Raul replied.

Dominic left his limousine and argued with Black Raccoon. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Well, you know that the weaponry in this old building is powerful. It can help me generate more money, and help my raccoons in battle," the Black Raccoon replied.

Feeling defiant, Dominic said that the weaponry belonged to him. Raul corrected him by saying, "Our weaponry, Dominic." "Right, sorry," the boss said. Raccoon suggested a fair way to determine who could take home the weaponry. It decided to do a coin toss.

"If the coin lands in head, you win. But if tail, I win," it said.

"Fine," Dominic said.

The coin was tossed. It would roll on the ground for a while, and landed on the tail. Raccoon won. Dominic looked frustrated. Raul tried to cheer him up.

On the rooftop, Espionage was ready to get going. However, he was stopped by the masked man. Still, he did not want to waste time. He tried to get going, but the masked man tried to stop him nonetheless. Espionage would counter with a punch.

The masked man was surprised. "Nice skills," he said. Espionage replied, "I built them through years of training. I am a skilled combatant."

"You came for the weaponry?"

"What else? Of course."

"Why?"

"I need them to undergo some projects. The weaponry can help move forward the project by a lot."

"Still, I have to stop you, because the weaponry does not belong to anyone."

Espionage jumped off the rooftop and landed on his feet. He ran towards the old building. The masked man could not do anything about that.

All of a sudden, the police arrived. "Freeze!" said Eddie. The two Js were also there. So was Big Man. "Put your hands in the air!" Jamal said, "Give me all your money." Joe said, "What did you say?". Jamal replied, "Oh, nothing. It is just a joke."

The raccoons tried to attack but the police stopped them in unarmed combat. Jamal was surrounded by two brown raccoons, but Big Man came to his rescue. He grabbed the raccoons with his big arms, and put them to the ground. They were handcuffed.

Joe punched one of the raccoons after he got bitten. The raccoon attacked Joe again, but Eddie stopped him with help of Big Man. "Thanks, I owe you one," Joe said. "Nonsense," Eddie said. "We got this covered."

The masked man got off the roof and went towards the building. He hoped that Espionage did not take the weaponry away. However, when he got in, he was surprised that, in a big box, there was no weaponry, but only Lego toys. It seemed that the weaponry was taken by the government to a safe place, or maybe it was merely a hoax.

Anyway, the two Js rejoiced in their victory. They sort of helped the police capture Dominic, Raul, Black Raccoon and the rest. The two Js were thanked by Eddie and his friends. They would walk home feeling proud.


	2. Saving Pika

Jamal looked at the stars on the sky. The stars looked bright, even near midnight. He was preparing his bed, ready to sleep when his phone rang. He took the phone and realised that Joe called.

"Hello? Jamal?" Joe said.

"Yes. What is it, Joe?" Jamal said.

"I need your help over here. Something urgent. Meet me near the garden."

"Really? It is almost midnight."

"Just come down here, will you?"

Jamal eventually agreed to go to the garden. He walked to the garden and saw his friend, with a stranger in a red and white cap. The stranger looked bruised.

"Look, I do not know what you are saying," Joe was heard saying.

"I think you may be pretending to help me. Tell me where my pet is!"the stranger said.

As Jamal moved closer, he realised that the stranger was Ash. He was from the Pokemon world. Apparently, he lost possession of his Pokemon pet called Pika. Ash and Joe seemed to be fighting. Jamal cooled them down.

"You two, please stop," Jamal said. "You are Ash. I know you from somewhere."

"That does not matter. I want to see Pika. Where is it?"

"Please sit and calm down," Jamal told Ash.

"Okay, I will," Ash replied. He sat on a bench.

Jamal talked to Joe.

"What is the problem?"Jamal said.

"He lost his pet and he thought I am responsible. I am not!"Joe said.

"He lost his pet? That is sad. We need to help him find it," Jamal said.

"How?"Joe asked.

"Eddie is a policeman. He can help."

"Oh, I forgot. Let us see him."

Then, the two Js approached Ash. They asked about his pet. He explained briefly to them. Pika is yellow in colour, and looked a little like a cat.

The description was brought over to the police station. Eddie overheard, and he laughed when he was told that it was a Pokemon. Ash told him that nothing is funny about Pokemons. Eddie would feel sorry and decided to help them find Pika.

The policeman got into his car, with the two Js and Ash. They went on a search. They went and asked a local barber, but he did not know. They also asked a chef, but he did

not see any yellow pet.

"Do you remember who stole Pika? Please try to remember," Jamal asked Ash.

"I cannot remember," Ash said in a worried mood.

However, Ash would remember soon. He remembered that he was riding his bicycle when it was raining. Then, a car hit him.

"How does the driver look like?"Eddie asked.

"Is he human or non human?" he added.

Ash said, "I got it! He wears a mask and a coat. A white mask and coat."

Joe interrupted by saying, "Good clue. Any idea who that might be, Eddie?"

"I believe," Eddie said," that it is Espionage."

"Espionage the ninja?"

"Not sure whether he is a ninja, but he is a skilled fighter."

It turned out that Espionage really had Pika. He wanted to get a Pokemon as a specimen to carry out his latest experiment. He saw Pika and took him from Ash. Pika was trapped in Espionage's base of operations, his lab.

"Henchman," he said, referring to his henchman, "this Pokemon is in my hands. That means I am just a few steps away from succeeding in my experiment."

"Way to go, sir," he said.

"By the way, I am going out. I have a fish to fry."

"A real fish?"

"Just guard my base."

"Okay, sir."

So, Espionage went off in his cadillac to some other place. His henchman looked on, and jumped with joy. "Hooray! No more doing work! Time for me to eat," he said. He left the base to enjoy food at a nearby restaurant.

Meanwhile, the two Js stopped by the forest after a long trip to find Espionage's lab.

"Are you sure you know your way to the lab?"Joe asked his friend Eddie.

"Of course, Joe. I know where to go. Ask me and I will tell."

"Well, I would like to believe that."

"Trust me on this one. Let us all rest for a while here."

They went into the beautiful forest. They rested at a place near a river. Ash looked pale and worried. Worried that something might happen to Pika. Still, he prayed. Beside him, he saw Jamal approach the river. He saw him cleaning his face, and other body parts, to cleanse himself.

"What did you do just now?"Ash asked Jamal.

"Why, I was cleaning myself before performing prayers," Jamal replied.

"Really? How do you pray?"Ash asked again.

"I pray five times a day. How about you?"Jamal said.

"I just pray when I feel like it. I am not very good at it."

"Do not say that. I believe you are. Ash, praying is a way to ask help from God."

"You are a very good person."

"I disagree. But I try to be the best that I can in life."

"It looks like I have to do that, too."

"Anyway, I want to pray now. We will continue searching, I promise."

"Guess I learned a lot today. Thank you, Jamal."

"You are welcome."

Ash looked a little relaxed after talking to Jamal. Jamal seemed to help him calm down after a tough night. Jamal prayed for several minutes.

After he finished, he was alerted by Joe, who saw a building a few metres away. That was actually Espionage's lab. Everyone returned to the car. Eddie drove fast to exit the forest.

After a while, they found the lab. Pika was still in there. There was no sign of the henchman, or Espionage. The two Js, Eddie and Ash saw Pika and saved it. Ash was relieved and hugged Pika. Pika purred. "It is good to see you all. Thanks for saving me," it said.

Later, they got back to Homes neighborhood, outside the police station. Ash thanked the two Js and Eddie for their help. He said that he might not be able to find Pika without their help.

"I believe I owe you all," Ash said.

"Nonsense," Jamal said. "We were all together in saving your pet."

"Thank you again, and goodbye," Ash said before leaving with Pika in his bicycle.

"What a day," Jamal said.

"It is night time, Jamal," Joe corrected his friend.

"Right. Sorry."

Eddie said, "Heh. I told you that I knew the road to the lab."

"Actually, that was more down to luck," Joe replied.

"Whatever you say," Eddie said.

Jamal laughed, followed by his two friends.

Espionage returned home with nothing. He was shocked to see that no one was in his lab. Pika was gone, and so was his henchman. Later, his henchman returned. A furious Espionage covered his head in disappointment.

"Oh, no. Not again," he said. "No matter. I have enough of Pokemons."

"I am sorry, sir. Forgot to lock the door."

"I have to fire you now. I do not need a henchman anymore."

"Really? OK."


	3. Camping Trip

It was somewhere in the evening. A religious teacher was in the mosque. He prayed with others following his movements behind him. Jamal followed, too, while Joe leaned on a wall and played with his phone.

The prayers ended soon. People shook hands and left the mosque. The teacher would be approached by Jamal.

"Good evening, sir," Jamal said.

"Good evening, Jamal," the teacher replied.

"I would like to ask you a question."

"Go on."

"How can I improve my recitation of the religious books?"

"You can improve by practising regularly. Just do your best to know the chapters."

"Really? Thank you, sir."

"You are welcome. And please, do not call me sir."

"Okay, teacher."

The teacher went on and told Jamal about a camping trip he organized. The camp would be set in the forest. Jamal felt excited and decided to go camping with the teacher and a few others.

"Great! I am going," Jamal said.

"What about your friend over there?" the teacher asked, referring to Joe.

"I am not sure. I will ask him."

"Anyone can go to the camp. Just get prepared tomorrow night."

Jamal approached Joe.

"What were you talking about?"Joe asked.

"A camping trip will be held at the forest tomorrow night," Jamal replied.

"Really? I am not interested."

"Do not worry. It will be fun."

"But I have work to do."

"What work?"

"You forgot that I am tasked by Eddie to fight crime, right?"

"Oh. So am I, but we do not have any work for now."

"Right. I forgot. I will think it over."

They left the mosque and returned home. Some people volunteered to go, and the numbers were not too small or too big. Time flew by, and it was already the next day. Night time, and a van was prepared outside the mosque.

Jamal arrived early. He and about 10 others gathered outside the mosque to follow the trip. Jamal was waiting for Joe. After waiting for 10 minutes, he thought his friend declined to go.

However, he was surprised to see his friend appear later.

"Oh, I thought you would not come," Jamal said.

"That is what you think," Joe said, "but I have nothing to do, so I will follow."

"Hooray! Let us get in the van," Jamal said.

The teacher said his prayers and drove the van. The distance to the forest is about 20 minutes. Everyone went with their own business when the teacher started talking.

"Everyone, in this camp, we will also meet a good friend. Someone I know from a long time," he said.

"Who will that be?" asked a follower.

"You will know when we get there," the teacher replied.

After 20 minutes, they arrived. They would be greeted by the sound of birds chirping in harmony. The two Js sat under a tree.

"Eddie did not follow?" Jamal asked Joe.

"No. He is busy with paperwork," Joe replied. "So, what do we do here?"

"We can tell stories and eat," Jamal said and smiled.

"That is all? I better play with my phone," Joe said, feeling annoyed.

Unfortunately, Joe's phone battery ran out. Since there is no electricity in the forest, he had to join the group in cooking.

"Guess I will cook the meatballs," he said.

Black Raccoon was there. It was searching for something when he smelled perfume. Its senses led to the teacher and the camping group.

"Perfume," it said.

Then, a masked figure approached the teacher. Turned out he was the friend that the teacher talked about.

"Oh, there you are. Good evening," the teacher said.

"Good evening, teacher. So, everyone is here?"the figure asked.

"Yes, they are. People, I would like to introduce Ninja Boy," the teacher said to the group.

Ninja Boy introduced himself. He said that he was from a village in the forest and he was a former student of the teacher. The two Js were surprised.

"You were a martial arts teacher?"Joe asked the teacher.

"I still am. I also teach religion basics to people," the teacher replied softly.

"I see," Joe said. He looked surprised. So did Jamal.

Jamal said, "Wow! I never knew that. Anyway, nice to meet you, Ninja Boy."

Ninja Boy replied, "Nice to meet you. Nice to meet all of you. Say, you cooked chicken meatballs? My favourite!"

The ninja student and everyone else ate on the floor. Ninja Boy looked to be enjoying the meatballs.

"Yummy! It tastes very delicious. Nice cooking, teacher," he said.

"Frozen meatballs only takes few minutes to cook, Ninja Boy," the teacher replied.

They finished eating and sat together to hear each one's stories. The teacher told an interesting story. However, Ninja Boy heard a sound. He thought to check it out.

He investigated the sound, but then, he was ambushed by Espionage.

"What are you doing here?" Ninja Boy.

"Nothing much. Just to get my perfume specimen," Espionage replied.

"Well, you are not getting any specimen," Ninja Boy said. He then tried to strike the scientist down. He missed.

"Now it is my turn," Espionage said. He moved fast and Ninja Boy could not keep up. Ninja Boy found a way to stop him. He let Espionage slip to the ground. Espionage was furious. He got up and jumped towards him. He punched and left him out cold. He was about to finish him off when he was stopped by Naruto. Naruto threw a shuriken which hit Espionage's gloves.

"Stop right there, big man!" Naruto said.

You can try to stop me," Espionage replied.

He then threw an unconscious Ninja Boy into Naruto, causing both to lay on the ground. "That was a good fight, but I am here for specimen."

The two Js heard the noise. They ducked under a tree branch. Jamal took a look and saw Espionage. "It is Espionage!" he said to Joe. Espionage heard them.

Joe whispered, "Let us hide." So, they both searched and found places to hide. They hid behind a tall tree and saw Espionage approaching. Joe took a tree branch and tried to hit Espionage, but he avoided it.

"Nice try," Espionage said, "bur you are going down."

Joe came to help. He threw rocks that hit Espionage. Then, Joe jumped towards Espionage to put him down. Jamal did the same. Unfortunately, both were thrown off. Espionage thought of going somewhere else when Ninja Boy shot an arrow that hit the scientist's right leg.

"Yeouch!" he screamed in pain.

A recovered Ninja Boy and Naruto took a rope and tied Espionage to a tree. The two Js woke up to find the scientist lay motionless on a tree.

"Thank you for saving us," Jamal said to the two ninjas.

"No big deal," Ninja Boy said. He looked relieved. So did Naruto.

The teacher found his student and camping members safe. He was confused a to what happened. Ninja Boy told him everything. Too much for the teacher to understand but he understood enough.

Espionage woke up. "No. I am defeated again," he said. "I will not let you capture me. I came here for perfume."

"I am sorry, but perfume is not with us," the teacher said.

Espionage realised, and said, "Too bad." He then untied the rope and ran away from the forest.

"Why did you let him get away?" Joe said.

"Do not worry," the teacher replied. "After all, let us enjoy our camping trip."

"Yeah!" Jamal exclaimed.

"Ninja Boy, does your village have electricity?"Joe asked.

"In some areas, yes,"Ninja Boy replied.

"Good enough. I need to charge my phone."

"Oh, really? Go ahead. You can visit the village soon."

"All right."


	4. The Vacation in the Forest

THE VACATION

The group that went to the camp at the forest left off, but the two Js stayed on. At first, Joe was unsure, but he tagged along with Jamal, because there was no phone call from anyone. No offer to fight crime.

Ninja Boy was pleased that they decided to accompany him in the village near the forest. They could at least help him with some work. After all, a ninja's work is quite challenging.

Even though Ninja Boy is a ninja student, he had to work hard to earn a living. He occasionally worked with his uncle. He helped his uncle to do chores, among them arranging books on the shelf, and cleaning the garden.

The two Js saw their new friend's difficulties and though of helping. Luckily for Ninja Boy, he could take a few days off. His uncle was busy with work in town, and he was put in charge of the house. Unfortunately, Ninja Boy did not get the keys, so he had to stay somewhere else. He chose the forest.

One day, Jamal spoke to Ninja Boy.

"Sorry about the turn of events," he said.

"It is okay. He will be back in about two days," Ninja Boy replied.

Meanwhile, Joe returned from a local restaurant. He went there to eat and charge his phone battery.

"Yes! My battery is good," he said as he approached his friend Jamal.

"Good to know, Joe," Jamal replied.

"Ninja Boy, anything worthwhile you plan to do?" he asked.

"So far, no," Ninja Boy replied.

However, Ninja Boy soon thought of cooking.

"All right. I will cook," he said.

Joe asked, "Can you cook?"

Ninja Boy replied, "Of course. I can cook lots of food."

Joe said, "Like what?"

"Chicken meatballs, chicken drummets, fishballs, noodles, and lots more," Ninja Boy.

"Great!" Jamal said. "Good to know you can cook. What about you, Joe?"

"I cook, a little," Joe said.

"You two still have meatballs?" Ninja Boy asked his friends.

"Certainly," Joe replied.

"Then, I start cooking now!" Ninja Boy exclaimed. He lit the fire and cooked.

After cooking, everyone ate. Suddenly, Ninja Boy heard his phone ringing. It was the Ninja School's headmaster. The headmaster told him that there was something urgent that he needed help with. Thus, he went to Ninja School, which was where he once studied martial arts.

He reached the headmaster's office.

"What can I help you with, honorable headmaster?" he said.

"Can you help me find my shuriken and longbow?" the headmaster asked.

"Err…sure," Ninja Boy replied. He thought that 'something urgent' was something big. Still, he decided to help out. Eventually, he found the shuriken in a small box underneath a cupboard, but the longbow was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no! That longbow is expensive," headmaster said.

"Do not worry, sir," Ninja Boy said. "You will eventually find them."

A voice appeared from nowhere, saying, "Looking for this?" while showing the headmaster's longbow. That was actually Black Raccoon. He attacked the Ninja School with his gang of bad raccoons. They wanted to show that they were superior to the ninjas.

"This longbow is now mine," Black Raccoon said, "and I will eliminate you ninjas!"

Ninja Boy quickly jumped and punched Black Raccoon. But the raccoon recovered. It tried to hurt the ninja but the two Js interrupted.

"Are you not the raccoon we saw a few days ago?" Joe said.

"I believe it is that raccoon," Jamal replied. "Eddie told us about it."

"Where are the other raccoons?" Joe asked.

Black Raccoon screamed, "Raccoons! Get them!"

A gang of raccoons stormed the office area and attacked the two Js. Ninja Boy fought back. The two Js used their water pistols and rocks to attack the raccoons. They worked, but the water pistol ran out. Luckily, Jamal brought pepper spray with him.

Joe borrowed the pepper spray and sprayed at Black Raccoon. Then, he sprayed at the remaining raccoons. They were then chased out by the ninja students from the school. After that, they all regrouped. Ninja Boy returned the longbow to the headmaster.

"Oh, thank you! All of you!" he said in a relieved tone.

"You are welcome, sir," Ninja Boy said.

"What now?" Joe asked Jamal.

"I do not know. Why not we go back to the forest?" Jamal said.

Then, Ninja Boy's phone rang. His uncle apparently waited for them in his house. He returned a day early because he finished his work earlier than usual. Ninja Boy was given permission to bring along his friends to the house.

"I think there is no need for that," Jamal said.

"Do not worry, friends," Ninja Boy said. "You can stay for a while, before you return to Creamland," Ninja Boy said with a smile.

The three young men walked off to the uncle's house. The headmaster closed his doors and sat on his chair. What happened to the raccoons? They retreated elsewhere. They learned their lessons to never disturb the peace.


	5. Busy Day

"Rise and shine!" screamed the cheerful Ninja Boy.

Joe just woke up. "What time is it?" he asked.

Ninja Boy replied, "Almost 9 o'clock."

Joe realised and quickly got himself refreshed. Jamal was already up and running. He was reading outside Ninja Boy's uncle's house. The two Js stayed there for the past day as requested by the ninja.

Joe was prepared. He joined his friends for breakfast.

"So, what do you all have in mind?"

"Nothing much," said Jamal.

"Ninja Boy, any work that needed to be done?" Joe asked Ninja Boy.

He replied, "So far, no."

Then, the uncle appeared. He was seen shaking his head. He looked restless. Probably because he did not have enough sleep.

"Ninja," he said, "it was a busy few days."

"Really?" Ninja Boy said. "How busy?"

"I had to deliver pizzas, paperwork and other stuff."

"I see. Any fresh pizzas for us?"

"I am sorry, but no."

"Oh, man!"

"Do not worry. We have tofu."

"Oh, that is okay."

"By the way, I am tired. I believe I need your help."

"What can I help you with?"

The uncle explained that he needed help to deliver pizzas to three people. The problem was that they all live further apart. Ninja Boy had no transport other than his uncle's bicycle.

"Looks like I am going to send them now," Ninja Boy said. "I might be back late."

Jamal offered to help, so did Joe. Ninja Boy agreed to receive their help. Unfortunately, he only had one bicycle.

"How can we get there?" Jamal said.

"We walk," Joe replied.

So, three of them walked, with three pizzas, one held by each. They walked up the hill to deliver the first pizza to Al-Habsi.

Ninja Boy knocked the door. He saw Al-Habsi and said, "Good morning. I believe you ordered a pizza. Here you go." He gave the pizza to Al-Habsi.

The big-sized customer replied, "Yes. Thank you. That was quite fast. I expected pizza to arrive later. Very good."

It was time to send the second pizza. They had to walk down the hill to reach the second customer's house. On their way there, Joe encountered a big dog. Joe fell to the ground. Luckily, Jamal caught the second pizza.

"What a relief," Jamal said.

"Look at that dog," said Joe angrily. "Almost caused the pizza to fall."

"Do not blame the dog, Joe," Jamal said to his friend. "That dog is friendly. It only looks fierce."

"Oh, really? My mistake," Joe replied humbly.

"I once got scared of that dog, but not anymore. Like you said, the dog is friendly," Ninja Boy said.

"Oh. Haha. Good to know," Jamal replied.

Minutes later, they arrived at the second customer's house. Ninja Boy rang the bell. The customer opened the door and said, "Oh, it is the pizza? Great. Thanks. Here is the payment."

The three continued on to the third and last customer. They walked along a straight but patchy road. On their way, they saw plots of land which looked messy. Leaves from nearby trees fell to the ground and they were not cleared.

They reached the third customer's house and greeted him. He received his pizza and said, "Smells delicious. Thanks, all of you." He added, " Ninja Boy, tell your uncle I said thanks."

Ninja Boy replied, "Okay, sir."

The door closed. With that, the pizza delivery was done. The delivery of all pizzas took quite a long time. The three men were relieved. Then, Ninja Boy got a call from his uncle.

"How are things, boy?" he asked his nephew.

"Fine, Ninja Boy replied.

"I forgot that I have one more work for you and your friends," he said.

"What is it?" asked a curious Ninja Boy.

Ninja Boy's uncle revealed that he needed help to clean his plot of land. He swept the leaves away, but the leaves fell again. So, the three went on to the land, which was a garden project, and helped sweep the leaves again. Even though they were tired, they still went on.

They stopped working after their work was done. Joe took a nap on the ground. They all rested under a cherry tree before leaving for home. On their way back, they saw the dog again. Joe was about to scream, but he realised the dog was harmless. Jamal gave some snacks to the dog. In between their trips, they stopped to pray, and take some

snacks.

They arrived home at night. When they arrived, they all were surprised to find the dining table filled with

delicious food. There was a lot of food, including their favourites.

"Good evening, you three," the uncle greeted his returning nephew and his friends. He added, "Dinner is served."

They all filled the dining table and ate. They enjoyed their food very much.

"Thank you, sir," the three men said.

"You are all welcome," the uncle replied and smiled.

After dinner, the two Js decided to leave for home. They said their goodbyes to Ninja Boy and his uncle before leaving by taxi.

"Thank you for visiting, feel free to come here again," Ninja Boy said with a smile.


	6. The Kid Detectives

A rather sleepy Eddie was seen in his room. He looked as if he just got out of bed, with his hair not properly combed and his clothes crooked. The policeman took a sip of coffee before Big Man appeared in his room. He said, "My arms are wide open, the sun is shining bright."

When Big Man saw his friend, he said, "Yo, you need to wash your face, seriously."

"Huh…? Oh, all right…" was Eddie's response. His eyes were blinking and shrinking. Big Man eventually left his room to take care of more important matters.

Nonetheless, he washed his face. Then, he would feel much better, much energetic than he was. He would be greeted by a childish voice from behind him.

"Hi there, Mr. Policeman."

Eddie's reply was simple. "Hi there…children," he said, as he was surprised to see five children near the door.

One of the children said, "Yes, we are children."

Another said, "We are not just children, but we are detectives."

Eddie said, "Detectives…?"

"We are young detectives," the third children said.

"Kid Detectives," the leader said.

Eddie was still confused. "Who are you all, really?"

The leader said, "I am sorry we did not introduce ourselves properly. I am Kairo." He also introduced his fellow friends as Majid, Aman, Alif and Marib. They would be joined by a surprised looking Joe later on.

"What is going on here?" Joe asked Eddie.

"Oh, err…say hi to the Kid Detectives," Eddie said.

"Err…hi!" Joe said to the small detectives.

"Hi! I heard that some things need to be solved," Majid said.

"Really?" Joe said. "What are they?"

Majid continued, "There has been an appearance of pirate couriers in town."

Joe raised his eyebrows. "Couriers? What are they doing here?" he said.

Kairo replied, "Possibly they are here to smuggle goods, or pirated material."

"Possibly?" Joe said.

"Yes," Kairo replied. "We heard that couriers from various places are going to attend a meeting in town."

"What meeting?" Eddie asked.

"Pirate meeting," Kairo replied.

The Kid Detectives got the information from the chief. The chief assigned them to investigate and help stop the pirates from doing their business. Even though they are little, they know how to work together as detectives, because they were familiar with the work for some time.

Kairo explained that the couriers were not alone. To help protect them in their meeting, they hired bodyguards. The bodyguards act as reinforcements to aid in doing deals, and even distract the police by becoming imposters. Such were their use that they were sent to board the deck.

A young policeman named Martin appeared in Eddie's room. He looked like he had something to say.

He eventually said, "Eddie! Joe! I have some news."

"Good or bad?" Joe asked.

"Not sure, but I have reports that the pirates are in town, and they will attend a meeting tonight."

"Tonight? Oh, brother!" Joe said.

"Anything else?" Eddie asked.

"They brought along many bodyguards," Martin replied. "Each group with their own."

"This is bad," Joe said.

"Absolutely," Eddie said, agreeing to what Joe said.

Then, Kairo spoke. "Do not worry. Kid Detectives are here to help solve the problems."

"True!" Majid said.

"One more thing, " Martin added, " the meeting is to be held in the My Dungeon building."

They received all the information useful to them. The Kid Detectives prepared themselves. Meanwhile, Eddie told Joe to go with them.

"But Eddie, I do not work with children," Joe said.

"Jamal does," Eddie said. "He might help."

"What about you?" Joe asked.

"I am going," Eddie replied, "because it is my duty as detective."

"You mean, the leader of all detectives," Joe said jokingly.

"No," Eddie replied with a slight laugh. "Just as a detective."

Then, Jamal appeared. "Someone said anything about detective work?"

"Yes, Jamal," Joe said. " Where were you?"

"I was reading the newspaper," Jamal replied.

"Can you both work with the children here?" Eddie asked, with reference to the Kid Detectives.

"We are not really children," Majid said.

Jamal replied, "No problem, as long as we all help each other out."

Joe declined at first, but he agreed to go anyway.

Thus, the two Js and Eddie worked with the Kid Detectives. They would have to investigate and stop the pirate activities, especially in the meeting at night.

Time flew fast. It was already night time, and the sky looked dark. Lights illuminate the city, and there are a few people in the outdoors at that time. Suddenly, a limousine appeared near the My Dungeon building, a very old building that has been abandoned for years. In the limousine were couriers Kori and Kari. Kori was a young pirate while Kari was a senior, and more experienced. Kori was a bit clueless when it comes to a lot of things, especially meetings. Kari had to be patient with his younger friend.

"Hello, old timer," Kori said to Kari.

"Greetings," Kari replied.

"What shall we do today?" Kori asked.

"Nobody told you about the meeting?" Kari said.

"Oh, wait. I just remembered! The pirate meeting," Kori replied.

"Good. We have a lot of things to talk about," Kari said to the younger man.

"We?"

"There are many of us in the meeting."

"Many of us…?"

"I mean, many pirates."

"I see. By the way, who are those big brothers in the black car behind us?"

"My bodyguards."

"Bodyguards? Ooo. Sounds great. This is going to be a fun meeting."

"Whatever you say. You brought any guards?"

"No. I do not need them. Nice limousine, by the way."

"Thanks."

The limousine peeled off into the alley, and so did the black car behind it. The cars joined a few other black cars in the alleyway and the streets, since there were no parking spots. Some bodyguards were seen guarding the rear entrance of The Dungeon.

At that time, Kid Detectives were already hiding at places near The Dungeon. Kairo was on the rooftop, with Majid on the ground. The others were hiding in the building itself. Kairo reported to Majid via his walkie-talkie.

"Kairo, this is Majid. I see couriers Karo and Kari leaving the limousine," Majid said.

"Aha! I see," Kairo replied.

"What did you say?"

"I see. I understand what you are saying. I also see them walking into the building."

"I know. So, what do we do from here?"

"We wait."

Detective Aman was with the two Js and Eddie. They were discussing ways to arrest the pirates from outside. They were not in the building since the bodyguards have them guarded. Instead, they were in the neighboring building.

"There are many bodyguards here," Aman said. "How are we going to enter?"

"I have a few ideas," Joe said. "One of them is disguise."

"Great idea," Jamal said.

"And what am I going to be?" Eddie asked in a curious way.

Aman replied, "Disguise is a good idea. Mr. Detective, why not you become a courier?"

Eddie asked Aman, "It is Eddie. How do you expect me to be a courier?"

Aman said, "Disguise, Mr. Eddie. Disguise as a courier."

Eddie replied again, "Well, that is fine by me. Give me my hat."

Joe said, "We are going to wear hats, too," referring to himself and Jamal.

"Where will you be, Aman?" Jamal asked Aman.

"I will be somewhere near," Aman replied.

Thus, the three men were disguised to look like couriers. They were allowed entry to The Dungeon by the guards. At the same time, the Kid Detectives were reporting on their walkie-talkies.

"Alif, what do you see in the building?" Kairo asked.

"I see about 10 men, possibly couriers, with five guards in black suit," Alif replied softly.

"Is Marib there?"

"Yes. He is just beside me."

"All right. You two just do your best to prepare if anything happens."

"Okay."

The meeting was taking place.

"Greetings," Kari said. "I am Kari, captain of the pirates."

"That is the leader!" Karo said in a joyful mood.

"As you all know, things are not going well. Shares fell. We are not doing well in business."

"We are doing terrible," a courier said.

"Our smuggling activities met with interferences by many, among them the police," Kari continued.

"That is not good," another courier said. "How are we going to rule the world?"

Kari's eyebrows were raised, and he said, "Very far-sighted thought, but a good one anyway. Today, we will discuss new plans. We will discuss who is going to take charge, send items, and receive items and so on."

Karo cheered and said, "Way to go. You are the best! I do not like meetings, though."

Kari was a little annoyed and covered his face. However, he went on after releasing a breath. "I will export smuggled curries to other places. I will do so with my ship."

"What ship?" Karo said.

"A loading ship," Kari replied.

"Arr! Hail to the king Kari!" Karo said.

"Arrgh! Stop that!" Kari said angrily. "What else?"

A courier handed over a to do list to the leader.

Kari said, "Hmm…a long list."

Then came Eddie and the two Js.

"Hi!" Eddie said. "Excuse me, but is this the pirate meeting?"

"What? Who are you? Who let you in?" Kari asked.

"Those are too many questions to ask, but I am a businessman and your guards let me in."

Kari was not amused. He said, "I cannot recall seeing any of you three."  
>Eddie carried on, and said, "I am a businessman and I am interested in investing for your company."<p>

Kari said, "Investing? Not interested! Guards, take them away!"

The guards looked at Eddie and the two Js. Eddie knew that he had to do something to be able to arrest the pirate couriers. Then, Eddie came up with an idea that he hoped would work.

He replied, "Sure. I will show you my card. Wait…"

Eddie brought out his wallet with his right hand, but instead of taking out a business card, he brought out his police badge.

"This is the police! Freeze! You are all under arrest for piracy," he said while holding his badge up to show to the couriers.

The guards were getting closer, but the two Js stroke first. They attacked two guards near them before the guards do so. The couriers were alarmed and decided to take down the policemen, but they were interrupted by Alif and Marib, who jumped off a ramp into a group of couriers.

"Hyaaah! Take this,"Alif said when he stepped on a courier's foot.

Then, the other Kid Detectives helped out. They teamed up to take down the couriers. Joe used his water pistol to shoot Karo. "Ooof!" Karo shouted. Jamal finished him off with a punch to his face. Kari saw what happened and thought of running away. He saw that the front entrance was not guarded, so he made a run for it.

Fortunately, Kairo and Majid were there. Kairo threw a rope which went along the legs of Kari and dropped him to the ground. Majid would join Kairo and tie the leader up.

"Good work!" Kairo said.

"But we could not have done it without help from our friends," Majid replied.

Everything was settled. The remaining couriers were caught, along with their tough bodyguards. They would be sent to justice by the police force. While that was happening, Jamal took the time to thank the Kid Detectives. Joe and Eddie did the same, too. The children instead thanked the three policemen because their help was more beneficial. Whatever it was, both parties helped each other in catching the pirates, and thus saved the city of Creamland.


	7. Teamwork

It was a cold, late evening. The city was a little quiet, but people were still working late into the evening, possibly until nightfall. A few blocks away, a man was seen standing on the pavement, probably waiting for someone, or something, to arrive. He would be greeted by a black coloured, secondhand car. He proceeded to enter it.

In the car, he saw the Black Raccoon. The raccoon was surprised to see a stranger in a hat, because he was waiting for someone else.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Black Raccoon asked.

The man removed his hat to reveal himself as Dominic. He wore some sort of black costume with white gloves and boots. "No fear, because Mr. Dominic is here!" he said. The raccoon was not amused.

"Dominic, what are you doing here? Where is my friend Amigo?" Raccoon asked angrily.

"Relax," Dominic replied.

"Why are you wearing a costume?" Raccoon asked again.

"Relax!" Dominic exclaimed. "Your friend Amigo appeared to be busy, so he could not come here."

"Really?" Raccoon said. "I will make sure."

Raccoon picked up his phone and called Amigo, but no one answered. Amigo was actually asleep, and did not look interested in meeting Raccoon.

"He did not answer," Raccoon said.

Dominic met Raccoon for several reasons. One of them is because he wanted to start a partnership with Raccoon, as means to conquer the city. Raccoon was curious at first.

"What do I get?" Raccoon asked Dominic.

"I promise that you will get a share of the bank," Dominic replied with a smile.

"Hmm...," Raccoon thought. He then said, "Great idea. I agree!" referring to the deal to join forces.

Dominic was in a joyful mood. "Excellent!" he said. "Now, we should work together and rule the city!"

As part of the deal, Raccoon's gang of raccoons would work alongside Dominic's bodyguards.

Dominic left the car soon. He was seen walking to approach his bodyguards. He did not know that Espionage was looking from the rooftops.

Dominic said to one of his guards, "We got a deal, brothers."

The guard asked, "What deal, sir?"

"The raccoons agree to be on our side," Dominic replied.

"Oh, those raccoons," another guard said. "Can we trust them?"

Dominic's response was a yes.

Espionage looked surprised when he realised that they joined forces with the raccoons. He attempted to leave the building, but was noticed by Dominic. The crime boss threw a boomerang which hit the left leg of a running Espionage. He fell, but was fortunate to be able to escape from harm. Dominic left in his limousine with his guards after that.

As the slightly injured Espionage roamed the rooftops, he encountered the Masked Man.

"Not you, too," Espionage said, thinking that the Masked Man would fight with him.

Masked Man asked, "Just what are you doing on the rooftops in this late evening?"

Espionage replied, "Is it worth telling you?"

Masked Man continued, "I think it is."

Espionage then said, "Are you going to attack me or what?"

Masked Man though for a while, but decided not to attack. In fact, Espionage was only investigating.

"No, not today," Masked Man replied.

"Then, if you want to know, let us talk somewhere safe," Espionage said. They would talk in a nearby restaurant.

The thing about the enemies working together was brought into the discussion. Masked Man was told about Dominic's plan.

"Partnership?" Masked Man said. "I think he wants to rule the city."

"OF course," Espionage replied.

"He wants to make it his own, to support his crime business," Masked Man replied,

"I just said that," Espionage said.

"Whatever," Masked Man replied. "I do not know whether to trust you, but if Dominic really is doing that, he has to be stopped."

"I saw the Black Raccoon in the car with him," Espionage added. "They plan to attack the city."

"What?" Masked Man said in shock.

"That was what I heard, but we should get ready to stop them."

"How can we defeat guards and raccoons?"

"We will find a way to do so."

The two left the restaurant, but then, a stranger came and said, "Excuse me." The two looked at the stranger, but was shot with small electrocution. Both fell to the ground motionless but still alive. The stranger was actually one of Dominic's guards.

The next morning, things were quiet, until robbers appeared in a city bank.

"This is a bank robbery!" the leader said. "Give us all the money!"

A bank clerk replied, "Please do not shoot. I will open the vault."

"Good," the leader replied. "Put the cash in this bag," he continued, referring to his cotton bag.

Suddenly, some young policemen appeared in the bank, with the two Js.

"I do not think you are going anywhere," Joe said.

"The police?" the leader said.

"You better leave this bank, now!" Joe said.

The leader was unconvinced. He replied, "I think you should leave. He proceeded by firing a pistol which released a net. The net would trap the policemen, except for Jamal, who managed to avoid it.

Jamal would jump and throw rocks at the robbers. The robbers were not really hurt as the rocks fell on their feet. "That all you can do?" a robber said.

Not to their knowledge, the rocks were special because it contained electricity. The electricity was activated when Jamal pressed a remote. The electricity would cause the robbers to get a light electrocution, thus disarming them from their weapons and causing them to fall on the ground.

"That was okay," Jamal though. The new technology given by the police worked well.

Unfortunately, around the same time, raccoons appeared and attacked the city. Civilians were attacked as well. The raccoons bit their victims, causing them to scream in pain and fear.

"Let us stop them!" Joe said. With that, the two Js went to stop some of the raccoons while the young policemen took care of the robbers.

The two Js tried to stop the raccoons, but they were too many in numbers. The raccoons even outnumbered the police force. Then, they were surprised by the appearance of a tank. Standing on top of the tank were Dominic and Black Raccoon.

"Say hello to Mr. Dominic!" Dominic said to everyone. "I am the new ruler of this city!"

"Whatever you say," Raccoon replied. It would order his raccoons to finish the two Js.

"Raccoons, finish the two costumed people over there!" it said.

The raccoons went in groups and attacked the two Js. Eddie was not able to stop them, neither did Big Man nor other policemen. They had to stop other raccoons on their own. The city already looked like a war zone, with broken cars and buildings thrashed.

Joe was injured, while Jamal was grimacing in pain. They were about to get finished by the group of raccoons when Ninja Boy came out of nowhere. The ninja, with a pepper spray in his hand, fired the spray towards the raccoons that were circling the Js. In doing so, he managed to save them.

"No! My raccoons!" Raccoon said in anger.

"Brothers! Yo! Get them!" Dominic said to his guards, telling them to capture Ninja Boy and the two Js.

Ninja Boy brought the two Js to a safer place. Then, a thick smoke appeared from the ground to illuminate the city. It turned out that was planned by the Raccoon, as means to capture the policemen. One by one, the police were tied, and brought aboard a truck. The truck would go northwards.

A dejected-looking Jamal was comforted by Ninja Boy.

"Come on," Ninja Boy said, "it was not like you did not try."

"Sorry," Jamal replied, "but they caught our friends. Who knows where our friends are right now?"

Joe was in a similar mood. "Oh, no! Eddie might have been caught as well. He is not answering my call."

Jamal almost panicked, but said, "I…I want to rest for a while."

Joe was a little angry. He said, "Rest? At this time? We cannot afford to rest, but we must rescue them now."

Ninja Boy calmed Joe down. He told the two Js that, they were not the only ones worried at that time.

"Look," Ninja Boy said, "our friends are in danger. I know that, but I rescued both of you, because at that time I could only rescue both of you. In fact, I cannot take care of a dozen policemen at once."

Jamal asked, "What are you saying, Ninja?"

Ninja Boy replied, "I am saying that nobody is perfect. We as humans can only do our best to solve some problems."

"So," Joe asked, "what do we do now? This chat is not going to help the situation, is it?"

Ninja Boy raised his eyebrows, and said," Well, the next step is…we work together, and plan."

"Plan?" the two Js said in surprise. Eventually, they agreed to work with Ninja Boy to help save their friends, wherever they might be.

Actually, their friends are kept in a fairly secluded area near the forest. Espionage's old lab, which was abandoned, was used as the base of operations for Dominic and the Black Raccoon. Besides Eddie and Big Man, Espionage and Masked Man were also caught. The four were tied up to a tree, along with a few policemen and civilians.

Espionage could not believe that his old base of operations was used by his former employer Dominic. He was a bit upset, too. Meanwhile, Eddie just awakened from a long nap.

"Huh?" Eddie said as he noticed three people, including his close companion Big Man all tied up with him.

Espionage said, "Great. Now, there are four of us."

Masked Man replied, "Well, we are not fortunate enough, Espionage. In fact, we were blindsided. Impossible to realise that."

Espionage said, "Well, I am not feeling well now."

Masked Man asked, "Why?"

"This place," Espionage said, "once belonged to me. Only me."

Eddie entered the conversation. He remembered the base, and said, "So, what happens to it now? And why are we tied to this tree?"

Masked Man told Eddie, "We are not the only ones. Look around."

Eddie looked around him and realised that there are many groups of people tied to trees near the forest.

"This is scary," Eddie said. "Do the bad guys make us animal food?"

Big Man opened his mouth. "No idea, Eddie," he said. "No idea at all."

Espionage continued, "Well, Dominic and the raccoons are now controlling this place. It is no longer mine."

Masked Man asked, "Where do you live now?"

Espionage replied, "Does not matter."

Then, Dominic and Black Raccoon stepped out of the base. The four men looked on.

"Look," Dominic said, "we are almost certain to conquer the city. Let us relax and enjoy the scenery."

"Good idea," replied Black Raccoon, "but you said you wanted to smash the buildings."

Dominic remembered that he wanted to destroy buildings to make room for new ones, and as means to increase his power.

"Oh, I forgot," he said. "Let us move."

The two villains left the forest. Espionage looked in anger as they left.

Eddie was a little clueless as he did not know how to save himself. He did not bring any tools that could help him escape. "Oh, boy," he said, "looks like I am going to stay here for some time. I hope someone comes and save me."

Big Man replied, "To save us all, not just you. You forgot me, brother?"

Eddie realised and said, "Eh? Sorry, Big Man. I forgot." He asked, "Do you bring any scissors, pliers, anything?"

Big Man replied, "No." Eddie looked down on the floor, and hoped to be saved. He said, "I hope the Js will save us."

"I did not see them here," Big Man said.

"Who?" Masked Man asked.

"The Js," Eddie replied to Masked Man. "They are my friends Joe and Jamal. Maybe you are not very familiar with them."

"Well, how can they save everyone here?" Espionage asked.

"Let us hope that," Eddie replied again, "at the end of the day, we can go back to where we came from. All right?"

"All right," Espionage said. "Whatever you say."

Meanwhile, the two Js and Ninja Boy were discussing plans to save their friends. Joe suggested that they may be in Dominic's building, while Jamal thought they were in some secluded area. Ninja Boy felt that both may be right, but that could not be. The brainstorming went on until someone appeared on the entrance.

"Excuse me? Hello? Is anyone here?" the person asked.

"Who is there?" Ninja Boy asked.

The ninja prepared a stick on his left arm, just in case the stranger was a burglar, so that neither he nor the Js would be hurt. The ninja slowly sneaked towards the door to open it, when he saw a young policeman.

"Err…hi," the young policeman greeted. He was happy to see that the two Js were all right.

"Brothers!" the policeman said. "I am happy that you are both all right."

"Do not worry," Joe said. "We are just fine."

"We are discussing ways to save our friends," Jamal said.

"Really?" asked the policeman.

"That is true," Ninja Boy said as he joined the chat. "From what we discussed just now, I think they may be kept in Dominic's building, or somewhere else."

The policeman told them that he and his other friends managed to escape from the mayhem in the city. They hid in a safe place when smoke appeared, just managing to escape in the nick of time. They also checked Dominic's building, which was almost empty and had no traces.

"What now?" Joe asked. "If not the building, they must be somewhere secluded."

"Finding them is a challenge," Jamal said, "and we hope that we are not too late."

The policeman then said, "Do not worry. I picked up a signal at the forest. It was from one of my friends. They said that they saw, from a distance, some people being tied to trees."

"Wait a minute…" Ninja Boy said, as though he was finding something. He continued, "…the forest? Which part?"

The policeman replied, "I am not sure, but my friend said something about an old small building, once used by Espionage."

"Espionage?" Joe said. "Why, he is in this one, too?"

"I am not sure," the policeman said, "but I took down notes of what I heard. That is all."

"Brother, thank you so much," Jamal said to his fellow policeman friend. "We owe you."

"No, thank you," the policeman replied. "I am sincere in helping out. In fact, it is our companions that we want to rescue."

"Brother," Ninja Boy asked, "do you have a transport?"

The policeman replied, "Sure."

"Then, let us go, now!" Ninja Boy said. The four men got into the police car, with the young man driving. He was quick to press the pedal to the metal.

In a few minutes, they arrived. With the exception of the young policeman, everyone got out of the car. There appeared to be no one guarding the base from outside. Suddenly, they saw two bodyguards step out of what was Espionage's base. They were unarmed, but they looked tough, and even scary.

The two Js and Ninja Boy quickly hid behind a tree. One of the bodyguards heard a sound of moving feet, but he saw nothing. Thus, he folded his arms and stood beside the door. The two Js and the ninja slowly moved in the thick forest to avoid attention, until they reached a tree. To their surprise, there was a person tied to the tree.

Ninja Boy took out his shurikens and gave some to the two Js. Using the shuriken, he cut the rope to free the person. The person was grateful and said, "Thank you!". One of the guards felt like he heard a voice. He asked his fellow friend, "Did you hear someone saying thank you?" The friend replied, "No." They went back to work with guarding the door.

Jamal found Eddie and Big Man tied to the tree. He slowly walked and eventually reached the tree. Like Ninja Boy before him, he used the shuriken to set his friends free. Masked Man and Espionage were also freed as a result.

Jamal was surprised to see Espionage.

"What are you doing tied up outside your own base?" Jamal asked.

"No, I was caught up," Espionage replied. "Masked Man and I knew about the partnership of Dominic with the raccoons, but we were captured."

Masked Man supported Espionage by saying, "That is true. That was unavoidable. They found out that we were discussing in a restaurant."

Jamal realised and said sorry to Espionage. Espionage told Jamal not to worry, and he was more focused on beating Dominic.

"Jamal, thanks a lot!" Eddie said. "I do not know what might have happened if you have not saved us."

"Relax, Jamal," said Jamal. "Now, we free the others and get out of here."

However, they would encounter two bodyguards in front of them.

"Hey, were you tied up just now? And when did you come here?" one of the two guards asked.

Eddie replied, "Err…we were…"

Jamal said, "We came just now," and delivered a flying kick to the abdomen of the guard.

The other guard grabbed Jamal, but Masked Man helped out. He put the guard down to the ground to finish him off. Later, the guards were tied. Other people were rescued when, suddenly, the raccoons appeared in big numbers."

"Oh, no!" Joe exclaimed.

"Relax, Joe," Jamal said with confidence. "We take them on and do our best."

"I said that!" Masked Man replied.

"You are both right," Joe said. "Let us beat these bad raccoons!"

With that, they marched to fight the raccoons. Some of the rescued policemen and civilian helped them out. All of a sudden, it looked like a riot.

Joe threw a raccoon off to the forest after battling hard with it. Jamal also did the same. However, they would meet a bigger challenge when a large raccoon appeared. The raccoon, looking very well-built and strong, threw the two Js off just like that. Joe landed on a tree, but he recovered and proceeded to jump onto the raccoon. Unfortunately, he would be thrown off again, this time with his body hitting the ground. Joe grimaced in pain as he felt the impact.

Then, Jamal threw rocks at the raccoon. It looked annoyed and shoved him off. He did manage to talk to Joe, who was still recovering, and said, "Joe, do you have a plan?"

"Not at this time, no," Joe replied. "I assume you have some?"

"I have," Jamal replied. "Why not we lure the raccoon to meet the other raccoons?"

"Well, go on," was Joe's reply.

Jamal was confronted by a smaller raccoon, who was keen on clawing its victims. Luckily, Jamal avoided the sharp claws. After fighting for minutes, Jamal managed to carry the raccoon. He proceeded by throwing the raccoon towards the large raccoon. At that time, the large raccoon was busy beating Ninja Boy and Masked Man up.

The large raccoon was hurt when he was injured by another raccoon. Later, a large number of raccoons appeared from the forest. They pushed the bad raccoons off as if in a hurry. At the same time, they helped people who were fighting the bad raccoons.

Shockingly, a tiger appeared on a hill and roared. The fierce roar caused the raccoons to be scared and they left the forest in huge numbers. Both the good raccoons group and the bad raccoons group. The many people, including the two Js, also fled in a hurry, fearing for their lives.

While running, Eddie said to Joe, "This is truly a remarkable adventure we are going through."

"That is very true," Joe replied. "But now, let us scram. Ouch!" he continued as his body still hurt.

Masked Man and Espionage retreated to a safe place earlier than the others. They sought out to catch Dominic and Black Raccoon, to bring them to justice.

"How are we going to catch them when we do not know where they are?" Espionage said.

"I am asking that question for myself," Masked Man replied.

Then, Ninja Boy appeared, and said, "In here, brothers," referring to the young policeman's car.

They wasted no time and got into the car. The young man quickly pressed the pedal and drove away to the city, as Masked Man said that Dominic wanted to destroy buildings near his.

The partnership of Dominic and Black Raccoon were going well. Dominic was looking at a planned destruction of two buildings near his building. He thought of extending his own building after demolishing the old buildings. Black Raccoon just waited for his actions, and was more eager for his share of the pie.

"Okay, gentlemen," Dominic said to his men, "when I say go, you go and destroy the buildings."

"Dominic," Black Raccoon said, "I want to ask you a question."

"What is it, good friend?" Dominic said.

The raccoon asked, "Where is my share? You promised me."

"That will arrive," Dominic said, "after these buildings are demolished, and I extend my building."

"Why?" the raccoon asked. It said, "I thought you are going to give it after the demolition, not after the extension of your building."  
>"Well," Dominic said, "those are changes to my plan."<p>

"Why, you!" Black Raccoon replied in a furious tone. It could not believe that Dominic did not keep his promise.

"You want to fight now?" Dominic asked.

"You know something? I am way better than you. Way better!" exclaimed the raccoon. "I thought you are well-trusted, but perhaps I am wrong. Prepare to be destroyed!"

"Grr…!"

"Grr…!"

Suddenly, a suriken was thrown to the raccoon and it fell to the ground. Though it was not dead. Dominic saw that Ninja Boy, Masked Man and Espionage were there, so he thought of running.

"Aaaarrrghh!" he shouted as he tried to run.

However, Masked Man threw a rope, which then caused the big boss to fall to the ground flat. He was later handcuffed and arrested by the police.

Upon seeing the demise of their leader, Dominic's men surrendered peacefully. Black Raccoon was also taken to custody.

"That was not really easy," Ninja Boy said, "but we just managed to catch them in time. Thanks, brothers!"

Espionage replied, "I am not your brother, Ninja Boy! And I certainly am not your brother, Masked Man!"

Masked Man said, "Calm down. You went through a lot today."

Ninja Boy said, "You are not really a sibling, but I call people by the name brother as a gesture to greet them sometimes."

Espionage replied, "I see. Sorry."

Ninja Boy laughed, and said, "It is okay."

The next day, Jamal went to a café to meet Eddie and a slightly recovered Joe.

"Good morning!" Jamal exclaimed.

"Good morning, Jamal, take a seat," Eddie replied.

"So, how are you, Joe?" Jamal asked Joe.

"Hmm…," Joe said, "better than I was previously. My back still hurt."

"Get well soon," Jamal told his friend.

Eddie asked, "What do you want to eat?"

Jamal replied, "I will take garlic bread and plain water."

Eddie offered to pay for the meal for the two Js and himself, but Jamal declined. He preferred to pay his own bill. Eddie eventually accepted his request to pay by himself.

"Now, how are we going to spend our holidays?" Joe asked curiously.

Jamal replied, "It is up to you. I prefer to rest after a long period of working."

Joe said, "Seriously? You are not going to climb a hill or anything?"

Jamal laughed and said, "Of course not. Not now, at least, but if I am interested, maybe I will in the near future."

Eddie said, "That is the spirit!" and laughed with the two Js.

The waiter arrived afterwards, with the plate of garlic bread and plain water as ordered by Jamal. They all ate their food with joy.


	8. Adventure on the Hills

The sun rose at Creamland. The birds flew off in groups, as the morning fog cleared. Visibility was getting better in the city and the neighborhood nearby. Some people were seen sitting outside their houses, doing things like reading newspaper, knitting and so on.

However, the two Js, Joe and Jamal, were doing something else. They, along with their good friend, policeman Eddie, went up a hill. The hill is called The Hill. While walking slowly up the hill with his friends, Jamal felt curious about the hill.

"Here we are. The Hill," he said. "Why is it called The Hill?"

"Well," Joe replied, "I honestly do not know."

Eddie said, "Maybe because it is the tallest hill here in Creamland."

Jamal replied, "Oh, really? Thank you. I do not know much about this hill."

Eddie said, "It is okay. This is going to be a useful experience. I rarely go hiking."

Joe replied, "Me neither."

Jamal said, "I agree. Same for me. Let us continue our journey."

The three walked on, until they stumbled across a village. There was a sign that said, 'Welcome to hillside village' but it looked rusty and crooked. However, they were amazed to see a village on top of a hill.

"Wow!" Jamal said.

"Unbelievable," Joe said. "Look at that big village."

"Yes," Jamal replied. "It looks like a historical place in some ways. But it looks abandoned."

"Certainly," Eddie replied. "I wonder why."

A voice was heard from a distance, saying, "I suppose you three are here for a visit."

Jamal looked behind, and saw an old man, who had a walking stick with him. His body was slightly bent, probably due to old age. He introduced himself as Mr. Arman.

"So, Mr. Arman," Eddie said. He then said, "Do you know anything about this village?"

"Certainly," the old man replied. "I live here."

"Really?" Joe asked. "But it looks deserted."

"Many have left," the old man replied. "Only a few, very few, remain."

Joe said, "This sounds interesting."

Eddie asked again, "Brother, can you tell us more about this place?"

The old man agreed to tell. He told the three men that the village was built right there, at the top of the hill. The inhabitants came from various places and filled the gaps in the neighborhood. They all lived a happy life.

However, an army of bad people soon came and took over. They pillaged the city for gold, and villagers were forced to flee elsewhere. The bad people were led by a leader who aimed to dominate the hill. He succeeded in taking over the city and took its resources away, thus making the village more unproductive. Food and water supply were short, and the evil new leaders did not care about anything but power.

"So," Joe asked, "Where are the villagers?"

"Many have fled," Mr. Arman replied. " Very few people, including myself, chose to stay on. This is still our home, regardless of past events."

Joe then said, "Those who fled are not loyal, it seems."

"No, that is not what I meant, "the old man replied. "They fled, because that was the only thing they could do. It was difficult to fight those ninjas."

"Ninjas?" Joe, Jamal and Eddie said in surprise.

"There are ninjas here? I thought ninjas are good people," Jamal said.

The old man replied, "Some ninjas are good, some not so. They are human beings, too."

"I see," Jamal said. "Sorry."

"Does not matter," the old man replied.

The conversation was cut short when three people appeared out of nowhere. The three people were dressed in clothes ninjas usually wear. They wore masks as well. One of them was seen holding some sort of pistol.

The leader of the three started talking. He said, "Stop, and give us your money."

Joe replied, "Just who do you think you are?"

The leader replied, "We are the Ice Ninjas and we come to take your money."

"Forget it!" Joe exclaimed. "We are just travellers. No way do we have a lot in our pocket."

"You think you can stop us?" the leader challenged Joe. Joe believed he needed to do something to stop the Ice Ninjas instead. Eventually, he ducked, before punching the leader.

The punch left the leader on the ground, but he quickly recovered. He then shot his pistol, which released some sort of ice. The ice hit Joe and he got stuck on a rock. Later, the other two bad ninjas shot their ice pistol to stop Jamal and the old man.

Jamal was caught, and so was the old man. Eddie was left, but he could not fight three people alone. He retreated with the ninjas trailing. However, once Eddie hid at a safer place, a figure, dressed in blue coloured clothes appeared. On his costume there could be seen a picture of a spider. The figure delivered a kick to one of the Ice Ninjas.

"Ninja Spider!" the ninja leader exclaimed. "How nice of you to join us."

"No time to talk," the figure named Ninja Spider replied.

The angry leader said , "Prepare to be finished!"

With that, he rushed to beat the spider-costumed ninja. A recently recovered ninja shot ice but Ninja Spider just managed to avoid. He then proceeded to throw the ninja to another ninja. The leader was able to avoid, but because his friends were injured, he decided to run away. Ninja Spider saw him flee, but could not do anything to stop him because he was further away. Nonetheless, he tied up the two defeated ninjas to a rock.

The ice melted, allowing Joe to break free. He then applied fire to rescue Jamal and the old man, with help from Eddie. Soon, they encountered Ninja Spider.

"Thanks for the help," Joe said to Ninja Spider. "What is your name?"

"You are welcome. By the way, my name is Ninja Spider," the ninja replied.

"I see," Joe said. "I heard of other spiders, but never Ninja Spider before. Are you some sort of mutant?"

Ninja Spider laughed. He said he was not a mutant. The old man explained that he was a helper who volunteered to help save the villagers from evil people.

"Well," Ninja Spider said, "enough of the introduction. What are you three doing here?" he asked the two Js and Eddie.

"We are visitors," Jamal replied. "We thought of visiting the hill to experience nature."

Ninja Spider smiled. "I see," he said. "But there is not much nature here. There are many ruins in this old village."

"Actually," Eddie added, "we did not expect to see this village, or anything similar, up here. This is all a surprise to us."

"When you rarely go on top of the hill, you do not know much about it," Joe said.

Eddie replied, "Joe, please do not interrupt me."

Joe realised and stopped. "All right, brother. I apologize."

More detail was given about the evil leader and his crew of ninjas, by Ninja Spider and the old man. They said that the leader used a tank as his transport, although the tank barely worked. He just stood on top of the tank while his crew marched. The ninjas were like an army, and they were cruel because they caused many problems to the villagers.

Later, a small number of villagers went out of the village. They were hiding beside the ruins and small shelters when people were fighting early on.

The old man said, "These are our strong-willed villagers. They are resisting the evil rulers, never giving anything to them."

"How are you all able to survive without getting caught, or frozen?" Jamal asked.

The old man replied, "Young man, I am the chief of this village. I know the trade along the road here. I know a lot because I was born and raised here. As for these people, I helped rescue them by leading them to passages where they might be safe. At the same time, we pray to God for the safety of ourselves and our belongings."

Jamal was impressed by the story the old man told. Later, a restless Joe asked if there was any shelter for him to rest in. Ninja Spider offered to lead him, along with Jamal and Eddie, to a small but useful shelter in the village. It was there that they relax after a tiring day, even up to the evening.

It would soon be night time. Jamal prepared for his prayers, while Joe and Eddie discussed something outside the shelter. They were outside because they also wanted to feel the fresh air, and did not want to disturb Jamal.

"Eddie," Joe said after finishing his bread, "what do you think of this place?"

"It is okay," Eddie replied. "I like it better at night, although it looks dark. Still, the air is fresher up here."

"Fresher than in town?" Joe asked.

"Of course," Eddie replied.

While they were talking to each other, they would be surprised by the fire of a shot, which released ice on a wall. It turned out that a bad ninja, and part of the evil leader's crew, arrived again. This time, he was alone.

"Hi!" the ninja said. "Prepare to be finished."

Joe asked, "Is that your way of greeting a visitor?"

The ninja did not waste any time. He punched and kicked Joe before attempting to shoot ice. He was stopped by Eddie, who tried to choke the ninja. However, the ninja threw him off towards Joe. Luckily, Joe managed to move out of the way just in time, avoiding an impact from a falling Eddie.

Joe said, "You are not the only one with weapons." He brought out his water pistol and attempted to shoot. However, a throw of a shuriken caused the pistol to fall. Joe's hand was slightly injured.

While Jamal moved out of the shelter, he saw the ninja approaching at a fast speed, and fell to the ground. The ninja was unhurt, and aimed at Joe, but Joe caused him to fall to the ground. He then tried to disarm the ninja, but that did not really work. Eventually, the ninja pushed him off. Joe grabbed his pistol and aimed at the ninja, while the ninja did the same.

Joe was able to shoot his pistol, but it did not really hit the ninja. Then, it was the ninja's turn. His powerful pistol was ready to release ice. However, a shuriken was thrown from a distance. It belonged to Ninja Spider. The strong ninja was weakened by Jamal's rocks which, after being thrown, released small electricity by pressing a button. The ninja went down on his knees before fainting. He was tied by Ninja Spider to avoid more movements.

"All of you did well just now," Joe said. "Thanks for helping."

"You are welcome, Joe," Jamal said.

Joe asked Ninja Spider, "Where do they come from?" referring to the bad ninjas.

Ninja Spider replied, "They came from nearby. They can be anywhere on this hill, because it is their territory."

Eddie joined the conversation. "Not for long."

Ninja Spider asked, "What is your point, visitor?"

"My point is," Eddie said, "that they will not oppress the people of this village. They will not oppress the people of this hill."

"Because we are going to stop them," Jamal said.

Ninja Spider smiled. He nodded his head. "Good to know someone is willing to help us," he said.

"Look! More of them!" The scream from Joe alarmed the others. More ninjas appeared, this time with their leader on top of a tank.

The leader then said, "Attack!" With that, his large group of ninjas ran towards the two Js, Eddie and Ninja Spider. The four men ran off to find shelter.

The bad ninjas searched the ruins for any traces. They also searched for other remaining villagers to chase them out. However, after some time, they found nothing. They were about to run but, to their surprise, a number of men appeared out of nowhere. They were actually the villagers and they came to fight the ninjas to defend themselves.

Suddenly, the area looked like a war zone. The ninjas had to fight with more than a dozen villagers, armed with broomsticks. The villagers put their old broomsticks to good use. Among the uses being displacing the ice pistols from the ninjas. The two Js looked on from a shelter and were amazed by the spirit of the oppressed villagers.

However, villagers would then be frozen as the leader of the evil ninja fired. He was using the pistol with good speed and precision. Then, he selfishly declared, "Any more insurgence and you will end up like your friends over here!" The other villagers remaining had no choice but to surrender.

The leader went to the old man, the village chief. He told the old man to surrender or face the consequences. However, the old man refused to surrender. He said, "You can take my belongings, but you cannot take my spirit away!"

The leader became furious and was ready to shoot. Then, he would be met by an ice in front of him. Ninja Spider used an ice pistol to freeze the evil leader. Upon seeing their leader getting frozen, the other ninjas surrendered. They ran off elsewhere.

"We surrender!" one of the ninjas said. "You are all free now."

With that, Ninja Spider lighted a fire and tried to unfreeze the villagers first. He did just that. Later, he told Eddie to unfreeze the evil leader. Eddie was curious as to why he had to be released.

"Why? Was it not him who tore your village apart?" Eddie said to Ninja Spider.

"I know that," Ninja Spider replied, "but it is better that he learn from his mistakes

than to let him pass away just like this."

"What if he comes back?" Eddie asked again.

"That will not happen again, God willing. We will make sure it does not happen again." the ninja replied, referring to 'we' as himself and the villagers.

The old man said, "That is very true. Mr. Eddie, please unfreeze him."

"Oh, all right, if you say so," Eddie replied. He proceeded by applying small fire to melt the ice surrounding the ninja leader.

Once being set free, the leader went down on his knees. He felt relieved to be free, and still alive.

He said, "You saved me? After all I did?"

The old man replied, "Does not matter to us. What matters is that you repent from your actions, and do your best to be a better person."

"I guess," the leader relied, "that I should thank you. In fact, I thank all of you, for saving me. I am really sorry for what I did. I promise that I will never return."

"Brother," Jamal said, "it is wise to thank God. He made it possible for you to survive to live another day."

The leader realised his wrongdoings and fled the village. Nobody knew where he headed. Meanwhile, the two Js talked to each other.

"This is very encouraging," Jamal said.

"More encouraging if we both worked together," Joe replied, citing a lack of contribution on the behalf of Jamal.

Jamal said, "But I did help. In fact, I put a stop to the ninja just now."

Joe stopped for a moment. He later realised what his friend said was right. "I agree with you," he said. "Sorry."

Before they left off with Eddie to explore the hill further, they said their goodbyes and thanked the villagers. Ninja Spider was talking to the old man.

"Chief," Ninja Spider said, "now that this place is saved, what now?"

The old man's reply was, "Simple, young man. We rebuild."


	9. Attack of the Aliens

The swordfight game commenced. There were two people, dressed in white suits and helmet, moving their swords against each other. They were closely matched, with one brushing off attacks by the other. Eventually, the match ended with the Red Team winning. Still, it was an exciting match.

Among the audience was Joe. He went shopping with Jamal and thought of watching the swordfight match just for fun. The entrance to the game was for free, for the first match at least. However, Joe did not enjoy it. He thought it was a waste of time and he left soon.

Jamal was outside the sports arena when he met Joe.

"How was the match?" Jamal asked Joe.

Joe replied, "Boring. Not my cup of tea, anyway."

"Really?" Jamal asked.

"I was not really interested," Joe replied, "but I just entered because I do not want to shop."

"Oh, what a pity," Jamal said after that. "Anyway, I bought some snacks and books. Want to read?"

"What book?" Joe asked.

"Many books, on science, cartoons, and lots more," Jamal replied with a smile.

Joe looked happy, and said, "Great! I will read any one of them."

The two Js walked back to the neighborhood. While doing so, Jamal showed the books as requested by Joe. Joe saw a detective police storybook and decided to read it. He was passionate about police work.

The night settled down. It was quiet. In a distant land, somewhere in Arabia, a shepherd was slowly guiding a flock of sheep back into their tent. The shepherd would then be surprised by the appearance of a four wheel drive. The truck moved inches closer within seconds to the shepherd. In shock, he shivered before fainting just as the truck stopped in the nick of time.

The driver looked on.

"Is he alive?" he asked his companion.

"Well, he is breathing," his companion replied, himself a doctor.

"Good," the driver said. "Now, where is Hadramaut?"

The companion showed the map and gave directions to his friend. According to him, Hadramaut is in Yemen, which is south of where he was. After that, the companion doctor left to return to his house. He brought the recently awaken shepherd along.

"Heh, it is you, Amran," the shepherd said with a deep but rusty voice.

"Of course it is,"Dr. Amran replied. "Sorry about the driver. He was going somewhere."

"It is okay," the shepherd said. "I met with similar incidents many times, but I am still strong."

"Sure you are," Dr. Amran replied, "so let us return to our homes. How are the sheep?"

"They are doing okay," the shepherd said.

With the conversation finished, they walked home carefully.

The driver was in a hurry to send a box of jewellery to a store in Hadramaut. He was late because he had to take care of household chores in the morning. He almost forgot about the delivery.

He put the pedal to the metal to reach Hadramaut in time, or maybe just a few minutes late. Better late than never, he thought as he rode through the dark sky and into Yemen from Arabia.

After several minutes, the driver arrived in Hadramaut. He quickly got out of his car, with jewellery in his hand, and knocked on the store's door.

"A delivery for Hashim's Jewellery Store," he said after knocking.

Later, a man replied from the store, "Delivery? Jewellery delivery? Oh my God. You are late!"

"I am really sorry, brother," the driver said.

"Oh, never mind," the shopkeeper said. He took the box, and gave a few gold coins to the driver. "I accept this gift."

"Thank you," the driver said.

"You are welcome," replied the shopkeeper.

The driver left off to return home, since nobody was home at that time. He went northwards. Not to his knowledge, the shopkeeper turned his attention to the jewellery. He thought it looked nice, and he wanted to hang it for customers to buy.

Not long afterwards, a suited man came in. He went to see the shopkeeper.

"How did you get in?" the shopkeeper asked in shock. He thought he locked the doors.

"The lock was not secured properly," replied the suited man with a rather deep voice.

"Well," the shopkeeper said, "no matter. What are you here for? I have plenty of jewellery, even rings and watches."

The suited man's reply was, "Hmm..." before he let off some sort of force field towards the shopkeeper. The impact pushed him to the ground, where he laid almosy motionless. The suited man then took a ring and wore it on his hot hands.

Later, he called someone and said, "Leader, I have the jewellery. The planet can now be ours."

"Excellent," the leader replied. He hung up later.

The suited man then changed his form into an alien, with the ring still on his hands. He ran off through the back entrance.

After that, a customer, who thought of buying some jewellery, did not see anyone. As he walked further in the shop, he eventually saw someone lying on the ground motionless. That was the shopkeeper. The customer was shocked and screamed, "Yaarrrgh!"

The incident which took place in Hadramaut was something that made big news. Thus, many news agencies flocked into the story of the incident. As usual, the police were assigned to investigate it.

The next day, Jamal read the news in a restaurant, and like other people, he was shocked. "Oh my God! I do not believe this!" he said.

Joe, who was with him, simply replied, "Why not?"

"Some kind of robbery happened in Yemen, and a black suited man apparently stole a green ring."

"What is there to believe and not to believe?"

Jamal frowned. "I was not finished," he said. "The shopkeeper was knocked down before the jewellery theft. You know how he was knocked down?"

Joe guessed, "The suit man fired his alien pistol?"

"No," Jamal said, "the suit man himself pointed his hand to the shopkeeper. Then, it released some kind of beam that took the shopkeeper down."

Joe's mouth opened, his eyes widened in amazement. "That...that is unreal."

"I do not know, but it is in the paper today," Jamal said.

Joe began to talk about aliens.

"You know something?" he said to Jamal.

"What is it?" Jamal asked.

"Last week, I saw a movie about aliens."

"Yes? Go on."

"In that movie, there were creatures that could fire something from their hands. There also those that make themselves look like humans."

"Must be an interesting science fiction story. Which reminds me, I have some story books of that genre."

"No need story books right now?"

"Well, comic books are available."

"No, thank you. I think that, in some ways, what just happened in Hadramaut have links to the events in the movie."

"Perhaps that is true."

"I see this as some invasion. The aliens are not friendly. They can wipe us out."

"Joe, I do not believe all aliens are bad. There may be some aliens that are good, and might help us."

Joe breathed in and out. "Wow!" he said. "Too much information about aliens, and I have not even watched the X Files."

Whatever that was going on was put aside and they ate their roti canai meal. "Mmm, this food is cheap and delicious!" Jamal exclaimed.

Hadramaut was in shock with the news. Still, they could not do much about it. The shopkeeper took a break, while the alien was still out of sight. Neither the alien nor any accomplice were found.

Actually, the alien went in disguise again, this time as a sailor. He appeared, at night, at a harbor in Hadramaut. He went into a boat and sailed off. The guards in the dock thought he was just a regular sailor who needed to do work on the sea.

While on the boat, the alien contacted his leader.

"Everything is ready, leader," he said to the leader. "Where are the others?"

The leader replied, "They are at Madagascar. Go pick them up."

Suddenly, when he was sailing, a speedboat appeared out of nowhere. The speedboat which was travelling at a very high speed was not noticed by the alien, nor did the speedboat sailor realise another sailor. An accident occurred when the speedboat hit the boat where the alien was in, with the speedboat turned upside down. Fortunately, the sailor was unhurt.

As for the alien, he was upset. "Lousy speedboat," he said with a squeaky voice. The speedboat sailor said sorry, as the alien went on with a damaged boat.

Meanwhile, the two Js came to Mac's house to help him decorate it. He wanted to throw a party, as part of his birthday. While Jamal did some work, Joe retreated to a corner to read a book on aliens.

Mac was looking very happy. He said, "Yippee! It is a while since I had a birthday party. Now with sufficient finances, I will do so."

Jamal said, "But a party does not cost a lot these days."

"Well," Mac said, "I like to save until I get rich."

Jamal replied, "That is the spirit, brother Mac!" with a smile.

Mac rearranged some things downstairs. His brother was decorating his room instead. He arranged his boxes of video games so that his room would look neater. He even arranged them in order. Minutes later, Jamal finished decorating the curtains. "That's the last one," he said. "Time to go home," he said after realising it was almost 10 o'clock at night.

Joe was going home with Jamal, too. He stood up and said goodbye to Mac before leaving. Unnoticed by them, a comet-like structure was floating on the sky. The structure looked unstable. That appeared to be true, when the structure descended at a rather fast speed.

From the sky, the structure was on fire. Jamal was looking at the sky around the same time, and realised a comet on fire, falling to Earth. Out of curiosity, he rushed to the scene. The trail led to the small forest near Homes neighborhood. Joe was surprised by his friend's actions, but he just followed. "Wait for me, man!" he said, and ran after his friend.

When Jamal arrived, he was shocked to see the structure. It was not a comet, but a spaceship, with small wheels underneath it. Joe was also in shock as he looked on. "Oh, no! Aliens!" he screamed.

"Calm down, Joe," Jamal said to his friend.

Soon, the ship's door opened. A figure was seen appearing slowly out of the ship, but he appeared to be crawling.

It turned out that the figure was an alien.

"Gasp..." Joe responded to what he saw.

"Earthling, help..."the alien said, before fainting to the ground. The alien looked as if it was burned.

Jamal thought the alien needed help. Thus, he told Joe to help carry the alien to a safe place, where he could rest for a while. Joe declined to help.

"Please help," Jamal said. "You know I cannot carry this alien alone."

"Oh, no, I will not!" Joe said. "This is a nightmare!"

Jamal shook his head. "What do you mean?" he said. "He did not hurt us. In fact, he looked pretty badly burned."

Reluctantly, the fearful Joe decided to help. The alien was brought to Eddie's garage, where he was treated.

Eddie asked his friends, "Where did you find this alien?"

Joe said, "The small forest over there."

"I see," Eddie replied. "He looks badly burned."

"I saw," Jamal said, "his ship setting on fire before it even landed. I do not know why."

"Evil aliens..." the alien began talking. "...are planning...to take over...the world..."

"What did he say?" Joe said.

"...aliens, bad ones, appear...on Earth...they plan to destroy...your civilization..."the alien said.

"Are you one of them?" Eddie asked. "If you are, I will bury you right away."

"Eddie..." Jamal told his friend to calm down. He told the alien to tell them everything he knew.

"I...was one of them..."

"Oh, great! Prepare for your funeral..."Eddie exclaimed. However, Joe stopped him from hurting the downed alien.

The alien went on, "...they lied...thought it was a visit only...I left their side...but they knew I worked with the good aliens...my ship was shot down by enemy aliens...".

"You are creepy fellow," Joe said.

Jamal added, "But speak good English nonetheless. What else can you tell us?"

The alien responded by saying, "...aliens, bad ones...on Earth...they are here...they can disguise as humans..."

Jamal saw the alien stuttering, and took some water for him. The alien drank the water till it finished. Then, he said, "Much better. Thank you, earthlings. I will go now." With that, he disappeared into thin air.

"Where did he go?" Joe said.

"Somewhere I do not know," Jamal replied.

"So," Eddie said, "no funeral for him."

"He is still alive," Jamal replied.

Eddie said, "Sorry I forgot."

Joe breathed for a few seconds. He then said, "For a while, I thought that was like the alien TV series I watched."

Jamal said, "And you may have watched many of them."

"Right," Joe replied.

The evil alien arrived at Madagascar early in the morning. He picked up two aliens who were not in disguise. One alien had green skin, while the other had bright red skin. They brought along their belongings, among which were their disguise kit.

"Get in, brothers," the alien said to his fellow alien friends.

"What took you so long?" the green alien asked.

"Yeah," the red alien said.

The alien replied, "Accident."

"Whatever it is, let us get to Creamland. That place is great place to rule," green alien said.

"Yeah," red alien said.

"Okay," the evil alien replied.

The only thing that the two Js knew about was that bad aliens were on earth, and they wanted to take over. They would not let that happen, but they have no clues to track down the aliens as mentioned by the good alien, that disappeared.

Jamal asked Joe if he had any clue. Joe told his friend that he had little, mostly through the books he read and TV shows he watched. Eddie listened to his friends's discussion in his garage.

According to Joe, aliens love to stay in dark areas. Why? So that they could prevent from being seen by 'earthlings'. Furthermore, they remained active without being seen. They float on spaceships which were hidden, possibly in areas that are inaccessible, to humans at least. Aliens also fear the loud sound of music, or something similar.

Thus, they found out that aliens do not like loud sounds. However, the question at that time was, when will they catch them?

"What about now?" Joe asked.

"Now," Eddie said, "is not the right time because it is still morning."

"Then, we try the evening," Jamal suggested.

Eddie thought about it, but he said no.

"How do we track them?" Jamal asked. "We are not experts in alien beings."

"I can," Joe replied confidently. "Aliens may be disguised, but there is a way to differentiate between them and other humans."

Eddie looked amused. "Let us try that method, then, at night."

"Why night?" Joe asked Eddie.

Eddie chose to go in the night because, judging by the recent events, like the Hadramaut store robbery, aliens make their move mainly at night. The two Js believed what their good friend said, and thus, they would wait until night time to bring the bad aliens to justice.

Somewhere around the afternoon, in the disguise of suited men, three aliens docked the boat at Creamland's old harbour. They went out of the docks on foot, to the surprise of the security guard. He was not used to seeing the three men.

The alien from Hadramaut went under a slightly different disguise. The green alien wore a dark green suit, while the red alien wore a dark red suit, complete with a tie. The three dressed neatly and wore sunglasses. The sunglasses were worn to avoid people from seeing their alien eyes.

"I think I look good in this suit," the red alien said.

"Keep quiet and do as you were told by the leader," the evil alien replied.

"Okay, yeah," red alien said.

The three went to a rather secluded area. The green alien put his briefcase on the ground. Then, with a press of a button, the briefcase opened to reveal a yellow-coloured spaceship, which looked like a star with five edges.

"We escape in here, just in case," green alien said.

"Good," the evil alien said. "No need to use a lousy boat."

"Now, as told by the leader, we terrorise the city."

"It is better to do that from within," the evil alien said.

"You are right," the green alien replied.

At night, Jamal was walking around town when he saw three men in fancy suits. He wondered why they were dressed that way.

"Excuse me," Jamal said, "are you people in show business?"

"Of course not," one of the suited men said, "we are here for the concert."

"Yes," another one said, "we are a music band, and we wear suits to look good."

Jamal nodded and said, "I see. Nice catchphrase, by the way. Where will the concert be held?"

"In this building right here," another of the suited man said, while pointing to a tall building.

At the same time, the aliens, still in their disguise, tried to sneak into the building. Jamal realised, but the three aliens looked similar to the band members he met just recently. He thought, how can they be in two places once? Jamal approached the three.

"Excuse me, brothers," Jamal said, "hi there! I was wondering, are you part of a band?"

The evil alien, who disliked music, from outer space and earth, replied, "No way. I hate music."

Red alien said, "But I love music." He then got a shove from a civilian by accident.

"Sorry, brother," the civilian said before entering the tall building. The shove resulted in the red alien's sunglasses falling, thus revealing his alien eyes. Jamal realised, and the red alien covered his eyes before picking up his glasses from the ground.

"What do you want, civilian?" the evil alien asked.

"Err...nothing much," Jamal said. Figuring he needed to say something smart to get him away from the aliens, he asked, "Can you sign my notebook?"

"No," was the response of the evil ninja. The other two just put their hands in their pockets and kept their head down.

"Oh, never mind. Thanks for sharing time," Jamal said before leaving. He was convinced he encountered aliens. Thus, he rushed to find Joe.

Eventually, Jamal stumbled upon Joe and Eddie. They were both on their way to the tall building to watch the concert.

"Was not my idea," Joe said. "It was Eddie's."

"Well," Eddie said, "once in a while. I want to see good music."

"I hope to believe that," Joe replied.

"No matter," Jamal said, "I want to say that I found the aliens."

Joe's eyes widened, his mouth opened wide. He said, "You found more of them?"

"Yes, and they were..." Jamal went back to where he met the aliens, but found that they were gone. "They were outside the concert building for a moment."

"Sure?" Eddie asked.

"Yes, I am. I saw the eyes. They were just like those in my book's description. They were wearing suits, just like the music band that will perform."

Joe nodded. Eddie pointed to the building and said, "They might be in here. Looks like it is the right time for us to catch them. Let us go!" The three detectives entered the building.

It turned out that the three aliens were in that building as well. They were hiding in a store room, on the ground floor. Red alien was scolded for revealing his eyes.

"It was not my fault. Earthling pushed me," he said.

"Really?" The evil alien stopped for a moment, and then continued on, "Very well, whatever it is, the earthling that saw you, and other earthlings, will be punished. We will beat them."

"Let us break them and send them to outer space," green alien said.

"Yeah," red alien said.

Coincidentally, Eddie heard their discussions, although only briefly, from outside the store room. He then moved slowly in the hope of catching them. However, the aliens's hearing led them to move to another place.

Eddie opened the door, and said, "Freeze, aliens! This is the Creamland Police Department!" Unfortunately, there was no one in sight. However, the aliens escaped through an opening on the wall of the room.

The aliens took the elevator to get to the 15th floor. That is the uppermost level in the tall building, and they thought of going there as means to escape. Probably their leader could transport them to safety from above.

Meanwhile, the two Js went up through the stairs. The elevator seemed to be very slow. Eddie led them to the concert hall, where the band was about to perform.

At the same time, the aliens were there. They wanted to find the exit, but could not find it because there were people blocking the exit. People were focused on watching the band concert, which was held for free.

"Greetings, everybody," the band's guitarist said, "We are going to perform today, so I hope you enjoy. Brothers, start playing!"

"Err...when do we start playing?" the drummer asked.

"Oh..." the guitarist said, "we play it in the count of three."

"All right," replied the drummer.

After counting to three, the band played their music. The aliens still have not managed to reach the exit. Then, green alien realised the appearance of the two Js.

"Look!" green alien said to the evil alien. "They want to catch us."

Eddie shouted, "You there, stop!"

"Let us run anywhere we can," the evil alien told his friends.

They were chased by the two Js while Eddie watched on. Eddie was a little dizzy after going up many floors by foot. Then, the aliens tried to trick them by going on stage, at the same time the band was performing. When Eddie recovered, he became confused.

The band was interrupted, when Joe punched the drummer, who was thought to be an alien. Then, the real aliens snatched a guitar. He thought it was a weapon, and aimed it at Jamal.

"Why does this thing not work?" the evil alien said.

"That is a guitar, not a weapon," Jamal replied.

Jamal proceeded by kicking the alien to disarm him from the guitar. However, the alien recovered and directed a beam which led to many people getting dizzy. The beam was a very bright light.

Into the exit they ran, but Eddie managed to pursue them. He went through the stage as well. Joe followed suit, with Jamal behind him, still recovering from the dizziness. The band members looked on, but then continued to play their music.

When Joe lost sight of Eddie, he was a little worried. Suddenly, he saw Eddie being thrown to a corner, and bruised. The green alien was about to finish him when Joe shouted, "Hey, over here!"

The green alien took notice. But then, he disappeared. Joe thought it was strange that the alien just disappeared, but he went to check on Eddie.

"Are you all right, Eddie?" Joe asked his bruised friend.

"Look out..." Eddie said before fainting, out of fatigue.

Joe was knocked down by Jamal. That was a surprise as Jamal was behind Joe. Anyway, Jamal was seen wearing sunglasses.

"Jamal...?" Joe asked.

"...?" Jamal replied.

Eventually, another Jamal appeared, but this Jamal did not wear sunglasses. He replied to Joe, "Over here, Joe. That is an alien in front of you."

Turned out it was actually green alien disguising as Jamal. He fired a shot from his hand but Joe jumped to avoid it.

"Since when did Jamal shoot fire from his hands?" You are not Jamal."

"Whatever, earthling," green alien replied as he changed back to his original shape.

Joe was amazed by what he saw once again, but he tried not to panic. Calm down, Joe, remember that he is just an alien, you know his strengths and weaknesses, he thought.

Green alien punched Joe. Another punch pushed him to the ground. Then, as he was about to recover, the alien was about to step on him.

Fortunately, Jamal came to the rescue. He ran and jumped towards the alien. Joe did the same after he stood on his feet. Eddie fired a shot of electrocution to take down the alien. The sound of electricity buzzing was sufficient to defeat one of them.

However, evil alien and red alien were still there. They fired their weapons from their hands, and even their heads. The two Js had no choice but to run. Eddie was helped to run as he was tired. The continuous firing eventually led to fire and, eventually, explosions.

The fire became worse, so Jamal took a fire extinguisher near the exit door, and sprayed it to help stop the fire. Then, they realised that the three aliens disappeared into thin air.

"Oh, no!" Joe exclaimed. "They escaped."

Jamal comforted his friend. He said, "That is too bad, but there was not much we can do."

Eddie replied, "Still, we did good. You see how I took down that green thing?"

Jamal laughed. "I guess that, in some ways, we did our best."

Joe said, "Yes, you are both right." He then asked, "I wonder where they are now?"

"Probably they learned to never come back to hurt people of this world," Eddie replied.

Joe laughed, so did Jamal.

The aliens were actually transported back to their leader's spaceship. They brought the injured green alien with them.

The leader asked, "I see that you all did not do well."

The evil alien replied, "You are right, sir. We are sorry."

"Does not matter," was the reply given by the leader. It was a surprising reply.

"Really?" the bruised green alien asked.

"From this day on, there will be no more conquests of earth or other planets," the leader said. "We already have everything in this galaxy."

"Am I hearing right?" asked the evil leader.

I want everyone to stop doing evil deeds, prevent them, and live a happy life as aliens, in our own galaxy. Until then, peace!" the leader said before he disappeared elsewhere.

The aliens, and other aliens who were involved in the plot to take over earth, regretted their actions, and thought of never going back there. Instead, they wanted to live a happy life in their homeland.


	10. Archaeological Mystery

The Haram Police

Many policemen looked busy in the early hours of work. Although there are those who work outdoors, there are some who work indoors, in the Creamland police station. While their friends catch criminals and fight crime, those in the station take care of paperwork. Some policemen were kept in the station as reserves, in case something happens to the main policemen.

Eddie was in the police station, because he had a ton of work to do. He was left head-scratching when he came across the papers on his table, but he slowly got over it. The same situation could be said of Big Man, although he looked more relaxed.

While they were working, Big Man took the time to talk to Eddie. He asked, "Yo, how much paperwork is left for you?"

Eddie gave a sad face, but smiled as though he was forced. He then replied, "A lot more."

"Good luck," the big-sized Big Man replied. "I say the same thing to myself."

"Not much we can complain about," Eddie said. "This is our duty after all."

Meanwhile, Joe and Jamal were in the mosque. Jamal entered the mosque, but Joe was unsure whether he could so the same. However, Jamal said it was okay to enter. The two Js entered the mosque together.

Jamal's purpose of entering the mosque was to meet the religious teacher in charge. Jamal would sometimes attend the teacher's religious classes in his free time. He was curious as to the right way to recite some words in the recitation book. Thus, he sought help from the teacher.

At the same time Jamal was walking to find the teacher, he came across a thick-bearded figure. The figure was also wearing a white robe usually worn by the religious teachers in the mosque. The figure was then reading a religious book but, he soon turned his attention to Jamal. He looked at Jamal with bright eyes.

Jamal turned his attention elsewhere. He eventually met the teacher, and went on by telling him his problems.

"Good morning, teacher," Jamal said.

"Good morning, Jamal," the teacher replied. "What brings you here?"

"I came here because I need help with reading this," Jamal said. He showed parts of the religious book that he did not know how to recite.

The teacher understood, and went on by teaching Jamal hoe to recite the right way.

The thick and long-bearded figure was reading when he noticed Joe sitting in front of him. Joe was playing his phone. The figure looked upset and frowned before returning to his book. However, when he saw Joe playing again, he said something.

"Good morning!" the figure said to Joe.

Joe was shocked with the loud voice. He soon replied, "Good morning, Mister."

The figure said, "What brings you to this beautiful mosque?"

Joe replied, "Err...nothing much. I am eating for my friend."

The figure said, "You mean that brother over there?" while pointing to Jamal.

Joe said, "Yes."

The figure then asked, "What is your name, brother?"

Joe replied, "My name is Joe."

The figure looked confused. "Joe...? Are you a people of this religion?"

Joe said that he was not. Then, the figure said, "An infidel cannot be here. Haram!"

"But my friend said I can," Joe replied.

"Haram means forbidden. You cannot enter this masjid, because you are not pure fron impurities."

"I took bath this morning."

"Still you are an infidel. HARAM!"

"Look, I do not know what your problem is, but..."

"Do not mess with me, brother."

Jamal was finished discussing with the teacher. He then asked who the figure he saw earlier on was.

"Actually," the teacher said, "he is a policeman. He recently moved here to carry on his work."

"Really?" Jamal said. "He does not look like a policeman."

"Jamal, do not judge a book by its cover."

"Where does he work?"

"Occasionally, at Creamland Police Department. He is a detective."

Upon hearing his teacher's response, Jamal looked surprised. It looked like he just met a new friend, and more surprisingly, from the same department. However, he was not fine seeing his friend Joe and the bearded police quarrel. Jamal went to them to help solve the problem.

"What is going on here?" Jamal asked.

"You!" the police said. "Why do you let your infidel friend enter the mosque? Is it not haram?"

Jamal replied, "No, it is not. Anyone can enter the mosque, regardless of religion, but they all have to be well-behaved."

The teacher joined the conversation. He said, "Jamal is right, Mr. Policeman. Anyone can enter the mosque. In fact, I know Joe right there. He is one of my friends."

"Brother," the police said, "you are making a mistake. We should not befriend infidels. They are our enemies!"

"Brother," the teacher replied, "God never told you to treat people like that. Please do not call people an infidel directly. It is not kind."

"Really?" the police asked.

"Yes," the teacher replied. "By the way, what is your name?"

"My name is not important," the police said, "but you can call me the Haram Police."

"Okay, Mr. Haram Police, nice to meet you," the teacher said.

Jamal then greeted the Haram Police.

"Hi!" Jamal said with a smile. "I just heard you are a detective in Creamland."

"Sure I am," the police replied. "I want to keep things safe, and keep people away from the forbidden."

"Am I forbidden?" Joe asked. "I know I am not like you, but I do not believe that I am an infidel."

"Joe," Jamal said, "please relax."

"Fine," Joe replied. "I will, as long as he does not mess with me."

"Do not worry, brother," the police said. "I only do the right thing."

Figuring there was no point in quarrelling, Joe left the mosque with Jamal. After they left, the Haram Police continued his recitation. His phone would soon ring. He was given some urgent work that needed to be done.

The man on the phone was the police chief. He said that a group of archaeologists disappeared from the excavation site in Swan Falls, near Swan River. In a few seconds, the Haram Police changed to his casual clothes, but he kept his skull cap on. With that being done, he rushed out of the mosque to go to Swan Falls.

Around the same time, Joe was walking home when he received a call from a policeman, a friend of his. It turned out that there was a person flying around the causing trouble at the city. The person called himself Flyer. Joe was also informed about the Swan Falls incident, but since he was already near the city, he and Jamal decided to check the flying man out.

Joe parked at a safe place and immediately after getting out, he saw some sort of flame being released towards the road in front of him. A hole was created, one of many already present on the long stretch itself.

"Looks like my powers are super," Flyer said. He then declared, "I, Flyer, will be king of the city, then the world, and I can get rich!"

"Is that so?" Joe shouted. "I would like to see you try."

Jamal told Joe to follow him and hide before they both get fried by the flame.

"What is the plan?" Joe asked Jamal.

"Looks like we have to do this carefully," Jamal said. "I try to distract him, while you find a way to disable his flying machine."

"Good idea," Joe replied, "but I want to keep that machine."

"Forget that now," Jamal told his friend. "We have to stop the Fyler before he hurts others."

Soon, they both made their moves. When Flyer was still on the air, Jamal went out of hiding and ran. Flyer saw him. Jamal just shouted, "Hey, catch me if you can!"

Flyer just replied, "With pleasure."

Jamal ran off to get away, with Flyer close behind. However, Flyer proved too fast. At the same time, Joe was thinking of following the action behind Fyler, but he found something else. He found masked criminals guarding a van, with hostages in it. Joe thought he had to rescue the hostages.

He went sneaking towards the criminals, and without time to lose, he punched one after another. However, one of them grabbed him from behind. Luckily, a strong Joe managed to break free. Later, he received help from Masked Man. Masked Man took the criminals down without many problems. The criminals were caught, while some surrendered and ran away.

Flyer was trying to catch Jamal but, eventually, he did it. He floated to the air at high speed and threw Jamal further up. Jamal was terrified and was close to landing backbone first onto the pavement, but Masked Man was there to save him just in time. Masked Man managed to grab him and saved him from death.

A determined Joe saw that Flyer landed. He then shouted, "You there! Take this," and quickly shot his water pistol. The impact from the water pushed Flyer to the ground.

Flyer was quick to get back up, but he stumbled across the Haram Police. It turned out that the police did not go to Swan Falls because the city was nearer to the mosque. Besides, other people were flocking in Swan Falls, to get insights on the excavation incident.

The Haram Police said, "Look who the cat dragged in."

"Excuse me?" Flyer said.

"Excuse yourself," the Haram Police said. Then, with a hard punch, the Flyer went out cold. His assistants, the masked criminals appeared later. Four of them, to be exact, but they decided to surrender eventually.

"It is forbidden to wear excessive clothing, Haram!" the Haram Police said to Flyer.

"Ouch! That really hurt!" Flyer replied.

"Care to talk more behind bars?" the police asked, while holding a handcuff.

Suddenly, Flyer took out a remote. Once he pushed one of the buttons on that remote, a light flame burst from the bottom of his flying machine, in turn elevating him further up.

"No chance for me to get caught, not this time!" Fyler said as he left the area.

The policemen regrouped. They were going through a difficult day, with another mystery yet to be solved. However, they would focus on the investigations at Swan Falls. Regardless whether they caught Fyler or not, they decided to concentrate more on the incident at Swan Falls.

"Say, Jamal, you okay?" Joe asked.

"I am fine, thank you," Jamal replied. "Thank you, Masked Man."

"You are welcome," Masked Man. "Just thought of helping because I appeared to be on town."

Joe said, "You were always in town."

Masked Man nodded.

Joe asked Jamal, "Are you going to Swan Falls?"

"I guess not," Jamal replied. "I need to rest after all that action."

"Good," Joe said. "You deserve it, by the way."

The Haram Police was already moving in his car. He definitely looked spirited to fight bad people. Joe proceeded after sending Jamal back to his house. He initially went with Masked Man sitting in his car, but Masked Man disappeared. Regardless, Joe realised he had better things to do.

As he drove off the neighborhood, Masked Man looked from a distance. "Good luck, detectives," he said softly.

It took 30 minutes, minus traffic, to get to Swan Falls. The traffic was the main problem for Joe, and it left him stranded on the highway. He eventually found a shortcut through an old tunnel. 'What a relief', he thought after he moved away from the crowded cars on the highway.

The detective arrived late, but people were still working. Some policemen searched the area for clues, while some journalists were still eager to cover the story of the archaeology team's disappearance. The evening sun was shining bright, and many people were drenched in sweat, including Joe.

Eddie was there with the police chief. While the chief got busy with the media, Eddie moved away from him to meet Joe.

"Joe, about time you showed up," Eddie said.

Joe replied, "Sorry, but there was heavy traffic."

"Forget that, anyway," Eddie said. "We have a lot of work to do here. Have you met Mr. Haram Police right here? He is..."

Eddie was briefly introducing the Haram Police to Joe, but Joe already knew.

"It seems that we have to work together this time," the Haram Police said.

"Really?" Joe said. "All right, then, just as long as you do not call me names."

"Whatever you say," Haram Police said.

"Where is Jamal?" Eddie asked.

Joe replied, "He had a rough day, so I sent him home."

"I understand that," Eddie replied. "It is okay. But we got to find more clues."

While people were busy working in the Swan Falls archaeological site, some suited individuals appeared. They shoved police officers, telling them to move away. It turned out that they were rival archaeologists. Joe and Eddie looked on.

Their leader was a well-known archaeologist named Albert. He looked well-built and muscular. By wearing a suit, he looked bigger than he already was.

Albert went near the archaeological site's entry, which is a small hole, and said, "All of you, please pay attention. Now that the whole team has vanished, it is my turn to dig in this vast area, to make amazing discoveries, find amazing evidence of ancient human civilization down here." With that, he took a small lever and entered it.

A few policemen, including the chief, went against Albert, but he did not care much. He just pushed the lever down. With that, down he went, possibly to the bottom of the site, where it is very dark.

"He was not supposed to go in there," the chief said.

"Nobody should," Eddie said, "but if the others are down there, we should try our luck."

"Are you serious, Eddie?" the chief asked.

Big Man also asked the same thing. "Yo, are you serious?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Eddie responded. "In fact, Joe will go down there with me."

"What?" Joe responded in surprise. "But I do not see well in the dark. Why not you take Haram Police instead?"

Haram Police started to argue with Joe. He said, "You go down there! Eddie told you."

"Well, I think you should instead of me. I told you, I do not see well in the dark," Joe responded in anger.

"Grr..."

"Grr..."

Eddie cooled his friends down.

"Brothers, please stop, seriously," Eddie said to them. "Why not you both go down there?"

"What about you?" Joe asked.

"Fine," Eddie replied. "I will."

"Hooray!" Joe exclaimed. "Thank you."

"Let us get moving," Haram Police said.

The three policemen used the same lever to go underground, but something terrible happened on the way down. The wire accidentally snapped, sending them down at a fast speed. They eventually landed underground, but the lever was broken and there was not much they could do about it. Eddie landed on the hard surface and suffered a back ache as a result. However, he was slightly recovered afterwards.

Joe could not see well, so he borrowed Eddie's torchlight. The Haram Police followed them into an opening in the base of the site. They initially found nothing but, once they went a distance, they realised the existence of precious gemstones and coal. They did not know whether they were authentic or not, so they went ahead with their task, which was to search for clues. Probably the clues might help them locate the missing archaeologists, if they are still alive.

As the Haram Police moved, he fell to the ground. Eddie and Joe reluctantly helped him get back up. However, once they all stood on their feet, they encountered bats. The bats moved fast like the wind, pushing the three off. Some bats left the underground and that alarmed many people, including the police. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The three police carried on until they found a dead end.

Although it was a dead end, it did not look exactly like one. There was a crack around the wall. Although the wall could not be opened, they tried hard. Eventually, the Haram Police heard a sound of someone approaching.

All of a sudden, the rounded crack opened up, and Flyer appeared. He pulled the Haram Police and slammed him to the ground. Joe and Eddie would then be dragged off to the ground as well.

A painful recovery it was for Joe, as he hurt his ankle. When he opened his eyes wide, he would be surprised to see the missing archaeologists found. However, they were all tied up. Meanwhile, Flyer folded his arms and called for his boss.

"Boss, we got company," Flyer said. A suited figure eventually appeared, with a golden bull sculpture on his hands. That figure was Albert. It turned out that he was behind the disappearance.

"Albert the archaeologist?" Joe said. "Why?"

Albert replied, "Yes, that is true. Why, you ask? Well, I am a well-known archaeologist, and my reputation was going great until this gang of misfits came to the scene. They stole my reputation and, as a result, I am going to regain it."

Joe was confused. He said, "What mask is that?"

"This," Albert replied, "is a replica of a Minoan mask. It is gold and worth a million in value. It is also mine."

Joe asked, "What about those gemstones and coal?"

"Those gemstones," Albert replied, "were just part of the distraction. The coal, however, is real."

Eddie started talking and said, "Where are the real gemstones?"

Albert replied, "That is none of your concern. You are wasting my time."

The Haram Police looked a little angry. He stood and said, "This is haram." Albert did not understand what he just said.

The police continued, "This, what you are doing, stealing the golden mask, gemstones, and so on, is haram. No question about it. Haram means forbidden..."

"Who are you to tell me that?" Albert shouted.

"I am just," the police replied, "a policeman."

"No," Joe said. "You are the Haram Police."

Haram Police looked at Joe with an angry face at first, but then he turned his attention to Albert and Flyer. He said, "You know what? I am the Haram Police."

Joe added, "Your actions are unquestionably forbidden, even in the law. Like my friend said, that is haram!"

Haram Police said, "You still think we are friends?"

Joe said, "We talk about this later, all right?"

Haram Police said, "Okay."

"I do not care," a furious Albert replied. "Prepare to meet your doom! Guards, seize them!"

With the order, guards wearing bull masks appeared. They brought along wooden sticks to beat their prisoners up.

Unknown to Albert, one of his guards acted out of character. He stood behind another guard and hit the guard's body with a stick. Then, another guard took down two guards. Albert could not believe what he saw. The policemen, who were about to get beaten, were puzzled by the turn of events.

Soon after they took down the other guards, the two 'guards' removed their masks. It was revealed that they were actually Jamal and Masked Man.

Joe was amazed. "Jamal? How did you find out?"

Jamal replied, "The clues our friends found are very useful and leads us here."

Joe asked, "Well, nice to see you are okay now."

Jamal laughed and said, "You can tell."

Albert had just about enough. He ordered Flyer to fire the flame to the policemen and Masked Man. However, Joe shot his water pistol just in time to throw Flyer off to the ground. Jamal proceeded by throwing small stones before activating electricity to the stones. Flyer could be electrocuted and his flying machine caught fire, but Joe put the fire out after he activated his extinguisher mode on his water pistol. Fyler lied on the ground almost motionless but still breathing.

After witnessing his friend being taken down, Albert decided to run. He wore the golden bull mask and brought a large plastic bag with him into his truck. However, he was too late. The police eventually arrived at the destination and he was arrested.

"No!" he shouted. "I am the true champion, the best archaeologist. You cannot arrest me. No!" He was taken to prison anyway.

A few policemen removed the bag from the truck. Once they opened it, they were surprised to see actual gemstones and even coal. There were also some golden plates, and beautifully decorated plates. One of them said, "Wow! I did not expect to find these precious things." The policemen were surprised indeed.

As for the archaeologists, they were freed and moved back to the surface from the underground. Albert's team of archaeologists retreated elsewhere. Meanwhile, Joe talked to Jamal.

"Nice teamwork just now," Joe said.

Jamal replied, "Oh, it was nothing. I just help out when I can."

"We all did well," Joe said, "which makes me happy."

Then, the Haram Police appeared. He looked at the two Js with bright eyes. Initially, he just stared at them. Then, he smiled.

"Oh, great!" Joe said. "You finally smiled."

Haram Police replied, "I did not say that I cannot smile."

"This is funny," Jamal said, "but it is good to see you all in good terms."

"Are we?" Joe said, with his eyebrows raised.

The police said, "Brothers, I learned a valuable lesson today."

The Haram Police said that the two Js, along with other friends, taught him that religious difference is no barrier to peace, justice and good teamwork. He also realised his mistakes earlier in the day, and promised to never make them again. With that, he offered an apology to Joe, which was accepted.

Later, the Teacher came to see them.

"Brothers," he said, "I believe that you had an interesting adventure."

"Sure, Teacher," Jamal said. He went on with the story. They all talked until it was time to go back home.


End file.
